Retired Chief of Defence Staff General Sarath Fonseka, speaking at a lawyer’s forum in Colombo a short while ago, acknowledged for the first time that he will contest for the upcoming Presidential elections as a common opposition candidate and will work towards abolishing the Executive Presidency.
Speaking in the company of opposition leader Ranil Wickramasingha, the former Army Commander expressed confidence that he will win the elections scheduled for January next year and beat his rival, the incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
He said that as requested by the opposition parties which had endorsed him as a common candidate he will abolish the Executive Presidency if he wins the polls and will later decide his next course of action based on the mandate he gets from the people.
“I had no plans to enter politics. I wanted to continue in the Army for another one and a half years. But I was disappointed with the state of the country and decided I had to make a change,” Fonseka said in his speech at the forum attended by several UNP members as well as former government member Wijedasa Rajapaksa.
The General is scheduled to address the media on Sunday in Colombo to further detail his political plans and ambitions.
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Speaking in the company of opposition leader Ranil Wickramasingha, the former Army Commander expressed confidence that he will win the elections scheduled for January next year and beat his rival, the incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
He said that as requested by the opposition parties which had endorsed him as a common candidate he will abolish the Executive Presidency if he wins the polls and will later decide his next course of action based on the mandate he gets from the people.
“I had no plans to enter politics. I wanted to continue in the Army for another one and a half years. But I was disappointed with the state of the country and decided I had to make a change,” Fonseka said in his speech at the forum attended by several UNP members as well as former government member Wijedasa Rajapaksa.
The General is scheduled to address the media on Sunday in Colombo to further detail his political plans and ambitions.
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