The President has decided to give Rs. 20,000 each for the SLFP electoral organizers for them to organize crowds to attend the May Day rally.

Since a large number of organizers have informed the party headquarters that they did not have the finances to bring a bus load of people for the rally, SLFP Treasurer, Minister Dullas Alahapperuma has proposed that electoral organizers who are not representatives of parliament or provincial councils should be given Rs. 20,000 each.

The President has therefore directed Alahapperuma to give Rs. 20,000 each to the organizers.

Several organizers have informed the party headquarters that given the current economic conditions in the country where people are faced with great difficulties in surviving, most people were disgruntled with the government. Therefore they have said it would be difficult to get crowds to attend the May Day rally.

Meanwhile, several political parties affiliated to the government like Communist Party of Sri Lanka, Lanka Sama Samaja Party, Sri Lanka Mahajana Party and Democratic Left Front have decided to hold a separate May Day rally. SLFP Secretary, Minister Maithripala Sirisena has written to the leaders of the four parties to at least send a congratulatory message for the government’s May Day rally that is to be held under the patronage of President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the Town Hall in Colombo since the opposition could claim the government is split.