Provincial council elections to be held at the end of the year

COLOMBO (News 1^st) - President Maithripala Sirisena has informed the Sri Lanka Freedom Party that provincial council elections will be held before the end of the year. The president made this announcement when the executive and central committees of the SLFP met this morning at Ape Gama in Battaramulla. The meeting of the SLFP Executive and Central Committees was held at Ape Gama in Battaramulla today under the patronage of President Sirisena. 14 of the 16 SLFP Ministers who defected from the government during the failed no-confidence vote against the Prime Minister were also present at the meeting. Former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Former Prime Minister DM Jayaratne, have been appointed as the Advisory Council of the SLFP. President Maithripala Sirisena has been re-elected as the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. Professor Rohana Lakshman Piyadasa was appointed as the General Secretary of the SLFP, while Minister Duminda Dissanayake was appointed as the National Organizer of the party, a position that was previously held by former Minister Susil Premajayantha. Parliamentarian S.B. Dissanayake was reappointed as the Treasurer of the party. Nimal Siripala De Silva, W D J Seneviratne, Anura Priyadarshna Yapa and Susil Premajayantha have been appointed to the postion of Senior Vice Presidents of the SLFP. Issuing a media release the Presidents' Media Division said all sitting MP's from the SLFP have been appointed to the party central committee. According to the President, they have appointed interim office bearers to initiate the party reform process and this temporary board will function for 45 days or one and a half months at most. He added that within that time frame the party reform process will be completed and their former secretary Minister Duminda Dissanayake proposed the motion to dissolve the board and resign. He said that he adopted the motion and they appointed Professor Rohana Lakshman Piyadasa of the Kelaniya University as the new secretary in order to oversee party reforms unanimously with no division and no dissent. New General Secretary of the SLFP Professor Rohana Lakshman Piyadasa stated that as the new secretary of the SLFP a special responsibility has been conferred on him to rebuild the party and the main task was to prepare a new policy framework and introduce a new national program with a local and national vision which the country needs.