Fresh doubts have arisen within the Samagi Jana Balawegaya circles whether former Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera will reunite with the United National Party.

Samaraweera today informed the public that he had decided to withdraw from the Parliamentary election 2020. Although Samaraweera has officially stepped down from "Parliamentary politics"the UNP can still appoint him as a national list MP following a crossover.

Accordingly, he requested the people of Matara to refrain from casting their preferential votes for him at the upcoming 2020 parliamentary election although his name appears in the electoral list as a candidate from the Samagi Jana Balawegaya.

He had addressed letters to the leader of the United National Party Ranil Wickremesinghe and the leader of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya Sajith Premadasa informing them about his decision to refrain from contesting in the parliamentary election.Mangala Samaraweera also held a meeting today at his residence with local government representatives from Matara and briefed them regarding his decision.

Expressing his views at this meeting, Samaraweera observed that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s leadership has been inefficient and short-sighted, and that this has been proven within a brief span of six months. He further observed that under President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, ethnic, racial and religious divisions among the people of the country are being widened while the state is being militarized, and that the opposition does not seem to have a clear understanding of what its role and duty should be at a time when the nation is faced with such grave challenges.