President of Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapaksa has ruled out snap polls and claimed that his ruling coalition was commanding a “comfortable majority” in the 225-member parliament, particularly after the 17 opposition legislators defected to the government.
Addressing a political rally at Nawalapitiya in the central Kandy district on Saturday, President Rajapaksa said although his party’s popularity was at its peak with the recent military victory against the Tamil Tiger rebels in the East, “there will be no parliamentary polls till 2010 and presidential poll till 2011”.
He flatly rejected wide-spread allegations by the opposition parties that his government was so fragile and was solely depending on the breakaway members of the opposition parties, and said that his government did not face any risk of fall.
“With the military victory of capturing the entire Eastern province from the LTTE, we can easily go for a quick election now and win handsomely. But, I don’t want to waste millions of public fund on another election before it is due,” President Rajapaksa told reporters after the rally.
