Common Candidate Maithripala Sirisena made a deposit at the Elections Secretariat a short while ago contest the presidential election under the symbol ’Swan’.

The common candidate’s party will be ‘New Democratic Front’ from which former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka contested the last presidential election.

Sharmila Perera is the General Secretary of the party. The party was registered by UNP Colombo District Parliamentarian Ravi Karunanayake, a few years ago. Along with the General Secretary of the party, Parliamentarian Wijedasa Rajapaksa and Ronald Perera PC also visited the Elections Secretariat this evening. 

It was earlier speculated that Sirisena will contest from  the ‘Apey Jathika Peramuna’ which had the symbol ‘Telephone’. They requested the Elections Commissioner to change the symbol of the party into ‘lotus’ pr ‘dove’.

However, the change in symbol was not possible due to certain legal issues, sources from the Elections Secretariat told Asian Mirror.