“Elections will be held in time, opposition circulating rumours”

President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Thursday said that people of this country well know that there are no shortcuts to abolish the executive presidency.Responding to a query by a group of MPs at a meeting at the President’s Office in Colombo, the President said that the presidential election would be held on time and there would be no abolition of the executive presidency at this time, sources from the president’s office said.

“I have clearly stated several times that I have no intention to put off the presidential elections. Funds for that purpose are there. The talks about attempts to abolish the executive presidency were circulated by the main opposition.

“There is a competition between two divided groups in the opposition. When one group is seen ahead of the other in terms of popularity, the traditional opposition panics. They got their media friends to propagate this topic. They keep floating the same stories using my name.

“People of this country know better than the opposition that the abolition of the executive presidency cannot be done in a hurry. There is a procedure to do that. We should not fall into their trap.

“Do not waste your time on this. You speak of the economic revival programme that we are carrying out,” the President told the MPs.