Former United National Party Member of Parliament Harin Fernando said that it was the Archbishop of Colombo who deprived UNP candidate Sajith Premadasa of votes during the last Presidential Election.
He made this statement at a Samagi Jana Balavegaya meeting held in Medirigiriya, Polonnaruwa.
He added that if 5% of the number of votes received by Gotabaya Rajapaksa came to Sajith Premadasa’s side then it would have been 47 per cent for Sajith.
“More than 300,000 voters who marked first preference for the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) had marked second preference for Sajith Premadasa. Who changed this five per cent? Usually, 80 per cent of Catholic votes go for the UNP. There was a shot there.
To break this trend, they went to the Archbishop. He gave some fantastic political advice to them. I never mentioned any of these things before. The reason is because I have a Catholic background myself.
“My father was Catholic. Mother was Buddhist. But I have an aversion against the Archbishop getting involved in politics. I called him one day. I am telling this for the first time to the Media. When the Easter Sunday attacks happened he told the Media that ‘a Minister was saved by his father but our people died’.
“What sort of a fantasy talk was that? That was simply politics. Those were the people who were in the five per cent game,” he added.