Democratic National Front will be established before the end of this month: PM

Colombo (News 1st): Issuing a special statement to the media, UNP leader Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe reveals that the Democratic National Front (DNF), will be established before the end of this month. He noted that all decisions will be taken after discussing with all member parties, in a democratic manner. He added that after fixing the date to officially announce the establishment of the DNF, a new idea was brought forward during the final meeting. The premier went onto note that they have decided to officially establish the DNF before the end of August and noted that the daily or internal operations of any political party will not be affected by this. He said this alliance will be formed in a manner that would protect the identities and independence of each member party. Prime Minister Wickremesinghe noted that they will formulate a set of policies for the DNF and their future action plans will be based on these policies. He said for those aware of the recent political trends, it is an obvious fact that the upcoming presidential elections cannot be won as a single party. He added that their objective is to win the elections, through an alliance headed by the UNP and subsequently, win the general elections and establish a strong government. Responding to this former general secretary of the UNP Tissa Attanayake noted that the proposed alliance has a major drawback and that is the level of strength between the main political party and the other parties and organizations that join the alliance. He noted that the overall strength of forming the alliance will be based on this, therefore, from the UNP's perspective, the main political party within the alliance is the UNP. He added that the UNP must possess decisive powers within the alliance which means that the leader of the alliance and the general secretary of the alliance should be from the UNP. He said as reported by the media, although the alliance is headed by the UNP, the other positions of the alliance have been given to other political parties, and individuals representing those organizations. According to Attanayake's perspective doing this has taken away the power of the alliance away from the United National Party to a certain extent. He went onto note that this is like attempting to control the head with the tail. He noted that if the UNP plans to operate in such a manner, the power of the UNP will fade away. He believes that the formation of this alliance may pave the way for the dissolution of the UNP.