The United National Party’s Working Committee has decided to formulate a new constitution for the party. A committee has been appointed to incorporate the reforms proposals into the new constitution, says General Secretary Tissa Attanayake.A committee consisting of UNP legal experts including K.N. Choksy, Wijedasa Rajapaksha, Tilak Marapona and

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has stripped Mervyn Silva from his deputy minister post and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party has cancelled his party membership, President’s media told a short while ago.

UNP leader Ranil Wickremasinghe today making a statement in parliament regarding Government Minister Mervyn Silva tying a man to a tree yesterday said that this kind of incidents will bring Sri Lanka into ill repute internationally.    

The state of emergency was extended for another month by Parliament a short while ago with 120 members voting for and 38 against. UNP Parliamentarian A.R.M. Abdul Cader voted with the government this time as well.

The UN is in the process of selecting the members to be part of a panel to advise UN Secretary-General Ban ki-moon on the implementation of the commitments the Government of Sri Lanka made in the area of human rights accountability.

Two characters have emerged as prominent contenders for the future leadership of the United National Party (UNP). The party recently decided to hold elections for several senior posts, which decision has gained considerable support within the UNP.

Democratic National Alliance (DNA) Member of Parliament Anura Kumara Dissanayake says he is to request a debate in Parliament regarding the India-Lanka Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA). He is to table the request when Parliament meets on June 8.

Near 300,000 eligible Tamil citizens are not registered as voters in the electoral registers held by Election Commissioner. Elections department should take additional efforts and implement novel methods outside the traditional revision processes to correct this under registration before any Electoral reforms.