COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s main opposition candidate on Sunday won important backing from a top Buddhist monk campaigning to scrap the executive presidency and return the country to a parliamentary democracy.

The former agriculture and health minister Maithripala Sirisena, who defected on Friday to challenge his former boss President Mahinda Rajapakse in the Jan 8 election, visited monk Maduliwawe Sobitha to receive his blessings.

“I applaud your courage to enter the fray only to scrap the presidency and bring back parliamentary democracy, ensure rule of law and end corruption, “Sobitha said while blessing Sirisena in front of reporters and TV cameras at his temple.

The monk is a key figure campaigning for political reforms in the majority Buddhist nation of 20 million. He had been the spiritual guide of former president Chandrika Kumaratunga who is also backing the 63-year-old Sirisena for the presidency.

The monk expressed regret that Rajapakse had failed to deliver on promises to abolish the 1978 constitution, which gave strong powers to the executive including immunity from prosecution.

Published in Dawn, November 24th , 2014