{"id":147267,"date":"2015-07-10T17:55:43","date_gmt":"2015-07-10T12:25:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=147267"},"modified":"2015-07-10T17:57:53","modified_gmt":"2015-07-10T12:27:53","slug":"maithri-supporters-to-contest-from-unp-upfa-facing-another-blow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/maithri-supporters-to-contest-from-unp-upfa-facing-another-blow\/","title":{"rendered":"Maithri Supporters To Contest From UNP: UPFA Facing Another Blow"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Discussions took place on Friday between the UNP and a group of ex &#8211; UPFA MPs over contesting as a common front at the Parliamentary elections.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Champika+Ranawaka&amp;x=10&amp;y=4\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Patalie Champika Ranawaka<\/span><\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Rajitha+Senaratne&amp;x=10&amp;y=2\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Rajitha Senaratne<\/span><\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=M.K.D.S.+Gunawardena&amp;x=7&amp;y=7\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">M.K.D.S. Gunawardena<\/span><\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Arjuna+Ranatunga&amp;x=5&amp;y=6\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Arjuna Ranatunga<\/span><\/a> and several other ex &#8211; MPs of the UPFA took part in the discussions.<\/p>\n<p>They discussed the possibility of joining the UNP as a political front for &#8220;good governance&#8221;. Ranawaka, a few days ago, renamed his political party as the &#8220;United Front for Good Governance&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>However, they will enter into an electoral pact with the UNP to contest under the symbol &#8216;elephant&#8217; from the UNP list.<\/p>\n<p>Some of the former Parliamentarians involved in the discussions have already signed nomination papers to contest from the UPFA.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Champika-Maithripala-Rajitha.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-135750\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Champika-Maithripala-Rajitha.jpg\" alt=\"Champika Maithripala Rajitha\" width=\"639\" height=\"426\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Champika-Maithripala-Rajitha.jpg 960w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Champika-Maithripala-Rajitha-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Champika-Maithripala-Rajitha-800x533.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 639px) 100vw, 639px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":135750,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1,6980,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-147267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-news","category-sri-lanka-parliamentary-elections-2015","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - 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