Speaker Karu Jayasuriya said UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe has been recognized as the Opposition Leader in accordance with Parliamentary traditions.

"Recognition of the Leader of the UNFGG as the Leader of the Opposition was done upholding established Parliamentary traditions that should not be violated, " the Speaker tweeted.

"While I empathize with the challengers too, it is best that a party’s internal disputes are settled from within, " he added.

The Speaker made the decision following a request made by UNP General Secretary Akila Viraj Kariyawasam to appoint Wickremesinghe as the Leader of the Opposition. Meanwhile, 46 MPs in the party wrote a separate letter to the Speaker proposing Sajith Premadasa to the same post.