Speaker Karu Jayasuriya has refused to offer support to UNP Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa's bid to secure Presidential candidacy causing a split in the party.

"Why does he need my support? He has already declared himself as a candidate," Jayasuriya has told two senior UNP MPs last week when the latter met the Speaker to seek support for Premadasa's Presidential bid.

Meanwhile, many members of the party have also requested Jayasuriya to be a mediator to diffuse the current power struggle within the UNP over presidential candidacy.

Some have even requested Jayasuriya to step in as a "compromise candidate" in order to end the current impasse within the party.