Deputy leader of the DNM Srilal Rohana said Soyza’s name would be suggested to prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and other UNP leaders today (25).

This is as per the MoU reached between the DNM and the UNP at the last general election, he said.

Soyza had represented the Ruhunu Janatha Party (RNP), a constituent of the UNP-led joint opposition formed against the previous regime, and is a leader who committed himself to form good governance, said Rohana.

DNM leader, MP Chatura Senaratne too, has told the media that the vacant seat should be given to his party.

The matter would be raised with the PM once he returns home from Switzerland today, he said.

As per the DNM-UNP MoU, the two national list positions for his party were given to M.K.A.D.S. Gunawardena and Jayampathy Wickremaratne, said the DNM leader.

Rajitha Senaratne, Arjuna Ranatunga, Chatura Senaratne, M.K.A.D.S. Gunawardena and Jayampathy Wickremaratne of the DNM contested the general election on the UNP ticket.

A former presidential candidate

Its nominee Soyza is a onetime JVP activist, who had remained in custody at the Boossa Army camp for more than five years.

At the 1994 general election, he contested as the JVP’s Galle district leader.

Thereafter, he left the party following to an internal dispute over the national question and formed the RNP in 2000.

He contested the 2005 and 2010 presidential election too.

The RNP changed its name to DNM in order for Maithripala Sirisena to contest the last presidential election under that party.