They are Vijith Vijayamuni Soysa, S.B. Dissanayake, Mahinda Samarasinghe, Thilanga Sumathipala, Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena and M.L.A.M. Hizbullah.

The UPFA’s national list MPs also include A.H.M. Fowzie, Sarath Amunugama, Dilan Perera, Faizer Mustafa, Angajan Ramanathan and Malith Jayatilake.

Perera, who is a strong critic of president Maithripala Sirisena, is included, but not G.L. Peiris, Tissa Attanayake and the president’s coordinating secretary Shiral Lakthilake.

So did, longstanding national list MPs LSSP’s Tissa Vitarana and CPSL’s Dew Gunasekara.

The UPFA national list nominees also included J. Sri Ranga, Tiran Alles, Jeevan Kumaratunga and Reginald Cooray.

Real democracy?

However, many question as to whether it is real democracy to appoint defeated candidates on the national list.

It amounts to an insult to the people’s supremacy, they say.