Exclusive interview/Ranil Wickremesinghe, prime minister, Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka is a nation in transition. It will soon see a constitutional change, ushering in the prime ministerial system that will replace the overbearing executive presidency system. And, spearheading this change is Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. The United National Party (UNP) leader has support from his one-time rival and now ally Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), led by President Maithripala Sirisena, and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA). Sinhala forces, however, are rallying behind former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, who hopes to make a comeback. Excerpts from an exclusive interview with Wickremesinghe:
The political situation in Sri Lanka seems to have changed after you took charge in 2015 and after the election of Maithripala Sirisena as president.
Yes. This change in the country has come after the election of Sirisena as the president of Sri Lanka. I became the prime minister of the minority government. For the first time in the history of Sri Lanka, our parties, the UNP and the SLFP, came together and no one was opposed to us forming the government. This is a major achievement in the politics of Sri Lanka. I don’t think it has happened in any part of south Asia. There is definitely political stability....
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