COLOMBO: As the Sri Lankan election commissioner announced on Friday that the presidential elections will be held on Jan 8 in what was seen as a major opposition strategy to defeat President Mahinda Rajapaksa, a senior minister in the government defected to the opposition to become the joint opposition candidate.

Maithripala Sirisena, who is Health Minister and General Secretary of the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) is being propped up the opposition United National Party (UNP), the Democratic Party led by former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka, former president Chandrika Kumaratunga, the Democratic Peoples’ Front led by Mano Ganesan, the Jathika Hela Urumaya faction led by Ven.Rathana Thero, and the National Movement for Social Justice led by Ven Maduluwawe Sobitha Thero.

Earlier, Rajapaksa on Thursday announced that he will be contesting a third term, had offered the Prime Ministership to Sirisena who had rejected it.

More government ministers, MPs and political parties are expected to jump on to the opposition bandwagon in the coming days further isolating Rajapaksa.

Sirisena told a news conference that if elected, he would appoint the UNP’s National Leader, Ranil Wickremesinghe, as the Prime Minister.

The opposition’s joint candidate pledged to abolish the Executive Presidency within 100 days of coming to power. He also promised to repeal the 18 th Constitutional Amendment which had abolished the Independent Commissions set up in 2003 to depoliticise the police, the judiciary, the executive and the election commission.

Sirisena said that the corrupt and authoritarian rule of the Rajapaksa family will be replaced by a democratic and people -oriented rule of the kind envisaged by the founder of the ruling SLFP, SWRD Bandsranaike.

Sirisena complained that he and many others in the Rajapaksa government could not function because of the stranglehold of the Rajapaksa family over all departments, arms of the State and the financial resources of the government.

Former Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga said that she has returned to active politics after a nine year exile despite her son’s fear that Rajapsksa might kill her.

Among others who defected from the Rajapaksa government or party on Friday was Fisheries Minister Dr Rajitha Senaratne, another senior government Minister.

Published in Dawn, November 22th, 2014