REFUGEE

Sri Lankan opposition's presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka will work towards abolishing executive presidency if he wins the January election, and will act as an "interim president" till parliamentary supremacy is restored, a prominent Tamil party said on Thursday.

"There is no term as interim president and it is only a political statement... Sarath Fonseka, if elected, will act like an interim president and work for abolishing the executive presidency," the Democratic People's Front (DPF) Chief Mano Ganesan said.

Ganesan said in the event of the former Army commander winning the elections, he will strive for a two-thirds majority in Parliament to scrap executive Presidency.

"If he fails to do so, the Opposition will wait for the new parliament for which elections are due in April," he said.

On the opposition's strategy if the executive presidency was abolished, Ganesan said Fonseka will not be asked to quit but will continue as a common President without being an executive president.