Samagi Jana Balawegaya

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The telephone - the official election symbol of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya

The Samagi Jana Balawegaya ( SJB , Sinhala සමගි ජනබලවේගය , Tamil ஐக்கிய மக்கள் சக்தி , "United People's Power"), English sometimes transcribed as United National Power (UNP), is a political alliance and party founded in 2020 in Sri Lanka .

history

The alliance was created in the run-up to the upcoming parliamentary elections in Sri Lanka in 2020 . It was constituted by Sajith Premadasa , the vice chairman of the United National Party (UNP), initially under the name Ape Jathika Peramuna ("Our National Front"), but renamed Samagi Jana Balawegaya on February 10, 2020 . On February 11, 2020, the Sri Lankan electoral commission recognized the SJB as a new party with party chairman Sajith Peremedasa and general secretary Ranjith Madduma Bandara. The establishment took place against the background of an internal power struggle within the UNP. The UNP was essentially split into two factions, on the one hand the faction around the former party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and on the other hand the faction around the ex-presidential candidate and deputy party leader Sajith Premadasa. After lengthy discussions, an agreement was reached in January 2020 that Premadasa should be the top candidate in the upcoming parliamentary election and leader of a UNP-led party alliance, while Wickremesinghe retained the UNP party leadership.

On February 13, 2020, Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and the Tamil Progressive Alliance (TNA) joined the alliance. The All Ceylon Makkal Congress , other small parties and civil society organizations later joined the alliance. On May 2, 2020, Allianz held its founding meeting at the Nelum Pokuna Theater in Colombo .

Dispute over the election symbols

After Samagi Jana Balawegaya was founded, a dispute arose over the election symbol under which the alliance was to compete. The official symbol of the Ape Jathika Peramuna was the "telephone". The Wickremesinghe supporters in the UNP had initially insisted that the electoral alliance should not run under any other symbol than the "elephant", the UNP's traditional and well-known election symbol. However, when Premadasa specifically asked the UNP leadership to give the SJB the “elephant” as an election symbol, resistance arose because it was feared that the party would not get the symbol back after the election. A compromise proposal stipulated that the SJB should receive the “swan” as its election symbol, which had been the election symbol of the National Democratic Front (NDF), the anti-Rajapaksa alliance in the 2015 and 2019 presidential elections . The NDF demanded the post of Secretary General and Deputy Chairman of the SJB, which the SJB was not ready to do. Ultimately, on March 13, 2020, the SJB leadership officially decided to use the “telephone” as an election symbol.

On July 8, 2020, the UNP complained to the electoral commission that the SJB was using the color green on its election campaign symbols, even though the SJB party program included blue as the party color. Green is actually the traditional party color of the UNP.

Separation from the UNP

On March 7, 2020, the factual separation of the SJB from the UNP became clear when the UNP leadership announced to the electoral commission that the UNP would run under the symbol of the "elephant" in 22 of the 25 districts of Sri Lanka . A little later, the SJB also put up candidates in 22 districts. SJB officials repeatedly emphasized that the SJB was founded with the consent of the UNP leadership. On May 29, 2020, the UNP party leadership suspended the UNP party membership of 99 UNP party members who had joined the SJB, including the Sajith Premadasas.

Constituent groups of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya

The following list shows the composition of the SJB on March 3, 2020. Some of these groupings also stood as independent parties in the parliamentary elections in 2020 in individual constituencies (e.g. Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, All Ceylon Makkal Congress).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c JHU, SLMC, TPA to back Premadasa's party. Daily FT, February 13, 2020, accessed July 18, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Sajith's alliance: “Ape Jathika Peramuna” becomes “Samagi Jana Balavegaya”. The Sunday Morning (Sri Lanka), February 10, 2020, accessed on July 18, 2020 .
  3. ↑ a b Capt. Vasabha: The elephant's swansong amidst election calls. The Sunday Morning (Sri Lanka), March 1, 2020, accessed July 18, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Lin J: Opposition Leader-led 'Samagi Jana Balawegaya' alliance officially formed. March 3, 2020, accessed on July 18, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Samagi Jana Balawegaya launches party symbol 'telephone'. Colombo Page, March 13, 2020, accessed July 18, 2020 .
  6. ↑ UNP & SJB clash over party color. Newswire (Sri Lanka), July 8, 2020, accessed July 18, 2020 .
  7. ↑ Capt. Vasabha: UNP split. The Sunday Morning (Sri Lanka), March 8, 2020, accessed July 18, 2020 .
  8. ↑ SJB candidates summoned to Colombo today. Newsradio (Sri Lanka), June 22, 2020, accessed on July 18, 2020 .
  9. ↑ 'Samagi Jana Balawegaya formed with UNP consent'. Newsradio (Sri Lanka), May 29, 2020, accessed on July 18, 2020 .
  10. ↑ UNP cancels membership of 99 members who joined Samagi Jana Balawegaya. Colombo Page, May 29, 2020, accessed July 18, 2020 .
  11. ↑ UNP's Samagi Jana Balawegaya launched, Ranil and Akila missing in actio. Colombo Times, March 3, 2020, accessed July 18, 2020 .