| Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha Is To Lead The Party Again After Five Years |
|
|
|
|
The Annual National Congress of the Liberal Party of Sri Lanka was held on the 18th of December 2011 in Kurunegala. Following the presentation of the Leader, Secretary General Kamal Nissanka, Senior Attorney at Law, elections were held to the Executive Committee, with Mrs Swarna Amaratunga being re-elected President and Kamal Nissanka Secretary General. At the committee meeting that followed a lengthy discussion on party policies and priorities, Mr Nissanka proposed that Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha MP be elected Leader. This was agreed on, in particular in view of the forthcoming 25th anniversary of the party. The Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats will also be holding its biennial Congress in Sri Lanka in March 2012, at which Prof Wijesinha would hand over the chair to the leader of the Sam Rainsy Party of Cambodia.
The nine members elected by the Congress, and the six thereafter co-opted by the Committee, now represent over 10 districts of Sri Lanka. The office bearers of the Youth and the Women’s Wing were also elected under the Chairmanship of Ms. Selyna Peiris and Ms. Chandrani Widanage, who stood in for Shalini Senanayake.
The 25th anniversary of the party will be celebrated at a seminar on January 20th to be held at the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute for International Relations and Strategic Studies. A book on the history of the Liberal Party thus far will be launched, highlighting the manner in which principles criticized by the left and the right when they were first advanced by the Party are now accepted by almost all major parties in Sri Lanka. |