Sri Lanka's Rajapaksa family presses for early Sri Lanka parliamentary poll

Sri Lanka's powerful Rajapaksa family wants to see a snap parliamentary election before the constitutionally scheduled presidential election scheduled for the last quarter of this year, a family member said on Wednesday.

Namal Rajapaksa, the son of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, said his family preferred holding a parliamentary election before the presidential election.

He said current president Ranil Wickremesinghe is being accused of having no mandate to push ahead with economic reforms so the president can be mandated with the mandate received at the parliamentary election.

Wickremesinghe took over the charge following the ouster of former president Gotabya Rajapaksa after the island nation announced its first-ever sovereign debt default since independence from British colonial rule in 1948.

He has since announced numerous reforms to get the island nation's economy back on track.

Namal Rajapaksa was speaking after being appointed the new national organiser of the Sri Lanka People's Party (SLPP), replacing his uncle Basil Rajapaksa who vacated the position to make way for young blood.

The SLPP has been in disarray since the ouster of Gotabaya Rajapaksa in mid-July 2022 through public protests.

The all-powerful Rajapaksa family was compelled to back Wickremesinghe, their arch-rival, as stop-gap president to complete Gotabaya's term.

However, the SLPP remains unhappy with Wickremesinghe's hard economic reforms necessitated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) bail-out conditions.

Wickremesinghe raised taxes and utility rates while proposing to sell state-owned enterprises to stop the bleeding of the debt-ridden economy.

His chances of re-election as the President hinge on the support he could muster from the SLPP.

Wickremesinghe is said to be geared towards holding the presidential election as scheduled between September 15 and November 15.

The election for a fresh 225-member assembly is not due before August 2025.

However, Wickremesinghe can call a snap parliamentary election by his order before the schedule.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)