UNP Reforms
Several days ago, the UNP reforms committee, headed by party senior and former speaker Joseph Michael Perera, handed over its report to long serving UNP and opposition leader Ranil Wickramasinghe. The reforms committee was the UNP’s response to its worst ever electoral showing in terms of percentage of the popular vote and resulted in relegating it to the opposition benches for the next half decade. In any democracy, the opposition has a vital role to play, essentially as a check and balance against attempted excesses of the government and hence the health and vitality of the UNP is of interest not only to its supporters but also to the general public.