Former Deputy Minister Harsha de Silva has been considered for the position of Finance Minister in the next Cabinet of Ministers, UNP sources said.

Meanwhile, the President is also considering the retention of Karunanayake as the Finance Minister. A section within the government is said to be pushing for the retention of Karunanayake as Finance Minister.

Harsha De Silva was one of the few surprising performers and came third in the UNP preferences from Colombo District. Karunanayake came fourth from the Colombo District under the UNP ticket.

Certain sections in the public and the party expected de Silva to be appointed the Finance Minister in the former government. However, he was appointed the Deputy Minister of Policy Planning and Economic Affairs. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was the Cabinet Minister of this ministry.

President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe are to discuss the appointments to the Cabinet of the national government today, reports said.

Meanwhile, it was reported that the Prime Minister and former President Chandrika Kumaratunga had also held discussions on the matter.

Political sources said that certin changes were likely in the next Cabinet compared to the Cabinet of the previous government.

Wickremesinghe and Kumaratunga were instrumental in assigning ministerial portfolios following the election victory of President Maithripala Sirisena in January.

The UNP and the SLFP agreed to form a national government for a period of two years following the UNP election victory at the August 17 general election.

Speaking at an event in Kinniya yesterday, President Sirisena said that the new Cabinet of Ministers will be sworn in within the coming week.

The UNP national list published this morning includes a defeated candidate, contrary to the earlier reports which claimed that the party would not appoint defeated candidates.

M.H.M. Navavi, a member of Rishad Bathiudeen's All Ceylon Makkal Congress (ACMC) was appointed through the national list. He contested the election from the Puttalam District but failed to win parliamentary representation.

The UNP won 13 national list MPs according to the election results.

Accordingly, several senior party members were named through the national list, along with a handful of members from constituent parties in the United National Front for Good Governance.

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the United National Party and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party on a national government this morning at the Presidential Secretariat.

The MoU was signed immediately after the swearing-in of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

UNP General Secretary Kabir Hashim and SLFP Acting General Secretary Duminda Dissanayake signed the MoU on behalf of the two parties.

Wickremesinghe's UNP won 106 seats in the recent parliamentary election. The SLFP is the larger partner in the UPFA, which won 95 seats.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated his Sri Lankan counterpart Ranil Wickremesinghe on being sworn-in as the Prime Minister for a fourth term.

"Congratulations & best wishes to Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe on being sworn-in as Sri Lanka's Prime Minister" Narendra Modi Tweeted, an hour after the swearing-in ceremony ended in Colombo.

Modi was one of the first foreign leaders to congratulate Wickremesinghe on August 18, when the election results were being released. The UNP won 106 out of 225 seats in the Sri Lankan parliament.

The bilateral relations between India and Sri Lanka improved significantly after President Maithripala Sirisena came to power in January this year.

Dr. Rajitha Senaratne said that only a few candidates who contested for the general election under the UNP ticket conducted a political campaign and that his son Chatura Senaratne was one of them.

Taking part in a political talk show on a local radio channel, Senaratne said that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had also commended several candidates for conducting a political campaign. His son was among them, Senaratne said.

He added that many UNP candidates were conducting personal campaigns to increase their preferential vote. Had they conducted a campaign for the party instead, the UNP would have done even better, he said. Senaratne said that he was able to lead the Kalutara District preferential votes since he conducted a political campaign.

Senaratne also said that most UNP candidates were enjoying the January 8 victory, rather than thinking ahead. However, Wickremesinghe had correctly understood that the victory on January 8th was not UNP's alone, Senaratne pointed out. He added that the Prime Minister wanted to complete the victory and strived for it.

Wickremesinghe once said that the UNP was weak in several electorates in Gampaha District, Rajitha Senaratne said, claiming that the Prime Minister suggested the increased engagement of Chathura Senaratne and Athuraliye Rathana Thera in these electorates.

Chathura Senaratne managed to come at the 8th position from Gampaha District UNP Preferential Votes list with 71,243 preferences.

Western Province Chief Minister Prasanna Ranatunga of the UPFA led the preference votes in Gampaha District despite his party's loss in the general election in his district. Ranatunga received preferences, nearly 170,000 more than the leading UNP candidate Ranjan Ramanayake.

Prasanna's brother Arjuna Ranatunga came second under the UNP ticket. Ruwan Ranatunga, a third brother who contested from the UPFA failed to be selected to parliament.