Sri Lanka's opposition leader Sajith Premadasa has decided to contest the upcoming general elections in the country.
Parliamentary elections in the island country are scheduled to be held before December 1 this year.
Premadasa, leader of the newly-formed Samagi Jana Balawegaya alliance and deputy leader of the United National Party (UNP), will lead the campaign and will contest from Colombo for the first time, sources close to the leader informed Daily Mirror on Thursday.
"He is a national leader, so he cannot lead his party's campaign from Hambantota. He will contest from the Colombo District," the source added.
UNP leader and former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will also contest the elections from the Colombo district, a senior UNP MP close to Wickremesinghe told Daily Mirror earlier this week.
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Meanwhile, the promotional campaign for the alliance will commence on March 2.
In November 2018, the date of the general election was briefly moved forward by more than a year to January 5 due to President Maithripala Sirisena dissolving Parliament and calling for a snap election leading to a constitutional crisis.
The Sri Lankan Supreme Court later suspended the dissolution and ordered a halt to the snap election, effectively moving the election's date back to 2020.
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