Sri Lanka's governing party to finalize chief ministerial appointments for three provinces today

Sri Lanka's governing United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) is to finalize the chief ministerial appointments for the Sabaragamuwa, North Central and Eastern provinces today. UPFA General Secretary, Minister Susil Premajayantha told
that the party has been in discussion on the appointments in the past few days. He said a final decision on the three chief ministers would be reached today. He explained that the party had to wait for the Elections Commissioner to issue the gazette notifying the elected candidates to the three provincial councils. "Until the gazette notification is out we cannot announce the chief ministerial appointments," Premajayantha said. According to the UPFA General Secretary, the chief ministerial appointments would be made considering several aspects. "In previous years we have appointed the person who has polled the highest preferential votes as the chief minister, but this time we will consider several other aspects as well," he said. However, political sources say the controversial former Chief Minister Berty Premalal Dissanayake is most likely to be reappointed for the North Central Province despite receiving less preferential votes than S.M. Ranjith at the recently concluded Provincial Council Elections. -->