Sri Lanka’s parliamentary opposition is splintering into competing alliances, with fresh questions emerging over Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa’s authority over the 66 MPs nominally aligned with him, according to a NewsFirst analysis published July 16.
A bloc of 21 opposition MPs has announced it will operate as a separate grouping. Separately, the People’s Joint Opposition, led by former minister Professor G.L. Peiris, has stepped up its activity, drawing in figures including Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Dayasiri Jayasekara. The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), under Namal Rajapaksa, has built its own platform, “A-Team NextWave,” and a group of United National Party members is reportedly working to draw former President Ranil Wickremesinghe back into frontline politics.
SJB Assistant Legal Secretary Mahesh Parakrama denied the new groupings were aimed at undermining Premadasa, saying “all parties are working together” and citing rare cooperation between plantation-sector rivals Jeevan Thondaman and Digambaram as evidence of collective purpose rather than division. But SLPP General Secretary Sagara Kariyawasam said the main opposition was “not speaking enough about the people’s issues,” while Sri Lanka Freedom Party Deputy General Secretary Suren Raghavan welcomed the new alliances, arguing a more active opposition would strengthen democratic governance even if it complicated Premadasa’s position.
From the government benches, Agriculture Minister K.D. Lal Kantha, of the ruling National People’s Power, framed the fragmentation as a verdict on Premadasa’s leadership, noting the SJB itself was born from a split with the UNP because members “could not win alongside Ranil Wickremesinghe” — and asking whether they can win under its current leader.
The realignment comes days after six Tamil and Muslim parties long aligned with the SJB-led coalition launched their own joint platform to press demands directly on the government, in what analysts have separately described as another symptom of the opposition’s widening disunity ahead of expected Provincial Council elections.
