Prime Ministrer Ranil Wickremesinghe will lead the discussions for the UNP in securing the support of Tamil and Muslim political parties.

Wickremesinghe has high credentials as a reformist leader, especially among political parties representing the ethnic minorities in Sri Lanka.

Securing the support of the Tamil National Alliance, the largest Tamil party in the North and East, is vital to the UNP's success at the next Presidential election.

In a media statement yesterday, the TNA said it would make a decision on the Presidential election once the main candidates hand over their nomination papers.

Addressing a press briefing at the party headquarters last evening, UNP Presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa said he was willing to enable the maximum devoltuion of power within a unitary country.