A division of the country reflected in the election result: Anura Kumara

Colombo (News 1st): The Presidential candidate of the National People's Power Anura Kumara Dissanayake convened a media briefing today (November 18). Representatives of university lecturers, artists, lawyers, and other intellectuals also attended this media briefing. He noted that they expected a certain result, however, the result that they expected cannot be seen in this election result. He believes that this country and the people of this country should select the path shown by them at the election. He went onto note that there was a sharp division and this division was also reflected in the election result. Dissanayake said one faction had used racism as the base for their election campaign and built an opinion based on national security and the security of the general public and that is what was reflected in the results from the southern part of the country. He said the people in the North and the East have a fear of a threat to the existence of their community with this new political unfoldings. He went onto note that the election results also reflect the fact that this community has taken a decision regarding this matter to ensure the safety of their community.

Journalist: There is an allegation that the JVP has fallen back since you assumed leadership. Do you accept that? Anura Kumara Dissanayake: Instead of considering this from the day that I assumed leadership, we gained ground in 2015. We increased the number of MPs in 2015. Before that, we only had 3 MPs representing the JVP in parliament, which was in 2010. In 2015 we increased that to 6. Also at the local government election, we managed to increase our representation in local councils two-fold. So there is a development in the results, there is also a fallback. I think we should be able to understand that politically. We do not see these developments as a victory of mine or these fallbacks as a loss suffered by myself. Journalist: If there is a proposal to dissolve the parliament, what would be your stance as the JVP? Anura Kumara Dissanayake: We will first see if they bring such a motion to parliament. This is not a switch of powers within parliament. This is a shift of power that happened according to the will of the people, so I think that all political parties should agree with this shift. We must accept the people's mandate.