Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, in an interview with a television station last night, said he did not regret the choice of Maithripala Sirisena for president.

Responding to a question posed to him by the interviewer, the Prime Minister said, “Looking back I do not regret our decision as together we have been able to achieve our ambition as a coalition government.”

In his interview, the Prime Minister at several points reiterated the importance of unity within the two major parties, the SLFP and the UNP.

He said that together, the two parties had been able to reverse the debt crisis the previous government had plunged the country into.

He said, “Even though the SLFP and UNP may not agree on every decision together, no major decision has been severely condemned by either side.”

The Prime Minister also revealed that he had advised the UNP not to slander the President, in the run up to the Local Government elections, as he was the head of government.