He also spoke on the UNP’s reforms adding that restructuring the party would give it a strategic advantage ahead of the 2020 elections. In a rare show of appreciation, the Prime Minister personally spoke to patrons and sincerely thanked them for their unstinted support to defeat the no-confidence motion.The Premier on Wednesday survived a No Confidence vote in Parliament after a majority of legislators numbering 122 voted to support his coalition government.

The trust vote was sponsored by the joint opposition over the premier’s failure to thwart the alleged bond issue and arrest anti-muslim riots which took place last month in Digana and Teldeniya. The Prime Minister comfortably secured the support of 122 members of the 225-member Parliament, with only 76 voting against him. His supporters included the minority parties, the Tamil National Alliance and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress.

Meanwhile, President Maithripala Sirisena’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) was split over the vote, with nearly 26 legislators, many from the SLFP, absent at the eleventh hour.