The Presidential candidate of the United National Party (UNP) will certainly be a senior member of the party, State Defence Minister Ruwan Wijewardena said.

Ruling out the possibility of a common candidate, Wijewardena said the decision-making bodies of the party would make a final decision on the matter.

He said the names of current Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Speaker Karu Jayasuriya and Minister Sajith Premadasa have been nominated as potential Presidential candidates for the UNP.

"However, our candidate will be a senior politician with a long-term vision and immense political experience," he added.

meanwhile, a section of UNP MPs claims that the parliamentary group of the party should be allowed to hold a secret vote when selecting the Presidential candidate of the party.

Traditionally, the UNP's presidential candidate is selected by the Working Committee of the party.