MR's special statement to the Nation

Colombo (News 1st) - Mahinda Rajapaksa in a special statement stated that he has no intention of remaining as Prime Minister without a general election being held, and in order to not hamper the President in any way, he will resign from the position of Prime Minister and make way for the President to form a new government. He went on to note the coming together of the Joint Opposition and SLFP group that was in the government has now created a power block that commands around 54% of the voter base adding that the votes of his allied political parties in the North, East and the hill country will have to be added to it. Rajapaksa added that the main aim in the immediate future will be to hold the provincial council elections which have already been delayed by more than one year and three months. He stated that when he was sworn in as the Prime Minister on 26th of  October, the aim was to form an interim government which was to last only for about two months until the conclusion of the general election, which was scheduled for the 5th January 2019. He then stated that he appreciates the difficult and bold decision the President made on October 26.