Proclamation for next General Elections

President's Secretary Mr. Lalith Weeratunga met President Mahinda Rajapaksha and obtained signatures for the relevant documents this afternoon at the auspicious time.

The President's official term of 4 years came to a close last night and he placed his signature to the official document that he would be contesting for the third term in office and that he announcing a General Election before completing his official period of 5 years at a brief ceremony held at Araliya Gaha Mandiraya today.

He told the media at about 2 p.m. that it had been received on an official basis by the Elections Commissioner. The date on which the Presidential Election would be held will be notified by the Elections Commissioner today after that and the Government Press is ready to print the gazette paper related to it within an hour.

Though Minister Keheliya Rambukwella told the media that the President's Secretary would be taking steps to release a special statement about the Presidential Election at 1.30 p.m. today (20), no such action has taken place.

The name of the present President Mahinda Rajapaksha was confirmed as the Sandana candidate after the meeting of the SLFP Central Executive Committee and the special Cabinet and the present President placed his signature today to contest the next Presidential Election. This would be the first time that a President of Sri Lanka would be contesting for the third time in succession.

The Opposition has said that the name of the Common Candidate who would be contesting as the main
rival of President Mahinda would be revealed after the Presidential Election is announced. Internal sources reveal that that name is expected to be announced tomorrow, Friday.

There is a strong belief that the fixing of the date would most probably be January 3rd or 7th and as such, there is only a period of 6 or 7 weeks for the General Elections to be held.