The Sri Lanka Freedom Party is considering the possibility of a power sharing agreement with the United National Party at the Local Government level, a senior party spokesman said on Sunday.  

He said the new arrangement would be in line with the national unity government concept of which the UNP and the SLFP are main stakeholders. 

"Irrespective of the outcome of the Local Government election, the two parties will join hands in running the administration of Local Government bodies," the spokesman told Asian Mirror. 

"The party that wins the Local Government body will obviously have a bigger stake in the administration.  But, some important responsibilities will be shared with the other main party too," he added. 

He revealed that the SLFP, led by President Maithripala Sirisena,  us likely to contest the election separately,  under its traditional symbol 'hand'. 

"The President will lead the party campaign.  Therefore, he cannot explicitly criticise the UNP during the election campaign as the UNP has a majority stake in his government.  In that case, the most practical solution will be to enter into a power sharing agreement with the UNP at the Local Government level, " he explained.  

"The party has not contested a major election under its traditional symbol 'hand' since 1989. On the other hand, the party will face the Local Government election months after its defeat at the Parliamentary election. All these factors should be taken into consideration when formulating the party's plans for the Local Government election," he further said.

However, a final decision in this regard is yet to be made by the decision making bodies of the party, the spokesman added.