Colombo, Sep 1 (IANS): Sri Lanka's new parliament convened for the first time on Tuesday after the United National Party (UNP) won a parliamentary election last month, a media report said.

Senior UNP member Karu Jayasuiya was elected the speaker after his name was proposed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and seconded by Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) member Nimal Siripala de Silva, Xinhua news agency reported.

The newly-elected 225 members of parliament later took oath before the new speaker and convened parliamentary sessions.

The UNP, led by Wickremesinghe, defeated the main opposition United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) by winning 106 seats in the parliamentary elections held on August 17.

The UPFA, whose prime ministerial candidate was former president Mahinda Rajapakse, won 95 seats. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the main Tamil party, won 16 seats.

The SLFP, the biggest partner in the UPFA coalition, has decided to work with the UNP in the new parliament after both parties signed an MoU last month to form a united government. The SLFP and UPFA are led by President Maithripala Sirisena.

Despite the united government concept, a new cabinet is yet to be sworn in after conflicts arose over ministerial portfolios. Both the SLFP and UNP are demanding powerful ministerial posts.

It had been proposed that the UNP will maintain 30 portfolios and the SLFP 15.

However, a group of UPFA members, including Rajapakse, have opposed the united government policy and will sit in the opposition benches.