issue that might win him some support he's trying to persuade his former rival former president rajapaksa who he defeated in two thousand and fifteen and whom he tried to bring back in his prime minister through illegal means last year he's trying to convince him that he serious cena will be should be a their candidate for a project artist party for the presidential election later this year so he's trying to show that he's a powerful popular politician and this is one way he's trying to do it i don't think it's going to succeed in improving his popularity significantly but it's clearly part of the political plan i think why do you think it's not going to succeed. well i don't think is going to win him back that many that the popularity points i mean that the disenchantment with him is so deep i think he's really from between two stools he he came in on a liberal reformist platform which after making some initial progress on in the first year or so he's really failed to deliver on and in fact is not actively campaigning against his greatest achievement the nineteenth amendment to the const