Roshan Ranasinghe pledges to abolish Executive Presidency

• Says by contesting, he is taking up a task presented to him by former CJ Sarath N. Silva
• Claims to understand needs of SL’s 22 million strong population and their heartbeats 
• Assures he will hold referendum if Parliament does not support efforts to end Executive Presidency 
• Candidate numbers swell to 27 as election-related complaints rise to 320 

Former Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe has officially announced his decision to contest in the upcoming Presidential election. 

Ranasinghe announced his Presidential ambitions at an event held at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute in Colombo yesterday, where he also pledged to end Sri Lanka’s Executive Presidency. 

The event, themed “Hadawathinma Ratata” (Wholeheartedly for the Country), was attended by several notable figures, including former Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva, Dr. Wasantha Bandara, Senior Counsel Kalyananda Thiranagama, and actor Kamal Addararachchi.

Addressing the event, Ranasinghe stated that he represents the 22 million heartbeats of Sri Lanka. “I have always understood the needs of the 22 million. That’s why, when the Executive President made the foolish decision to retain the water of the Samanala Wewa while the paddy fields of farmers in Udawalawa dried up, I intervened and insisted that the farmers be given water,” he said. He lamented that, unfortunately, the Cabinet at the time agreed to all the misguided decisions being made.

He said if Parliament does not support his efforts to abolish the Executive Presidency, he will call for a referendum to seek the people’s opinion on the matter. He expressed confidence that the citizens of the country would stand with him to remove corruption from politics and save the nation.

Directly addressing former Chief Justice Silva, Ranasinghe affirmed that he is ready to accept the task given to him by Silva and will contest in the Presidential election scheduled for 21 September.

Meanwhile, the number of candidates who have placed cash deposits to the Election Commission now stands at 27. 

On Friday, three more candidates placed deposits – Priyantha Pushpakumara representing the Nava Sama Samaja Pakshaya, J.D.K. Wickramaratne of the Ape Jana Bala Pakshaya, and independent candidate M. Thilakaraja. 

Candidates who placed deposits earlier are President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Sajith Premadasa, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka, Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, Sarath Keerthirathne, Oshala Herath, A.S.P. Liyanage, P.W.S.K. Bandaranayake, K.K. Piyadasa, Siritunga Jayasuriya, Ajantha de Zoysa, K. Ananda Kularatne, Sarath Manamendra, Akmeemana Dayaratna Thera, Battaramulle Seelaratne Thera, and several others.

The ECSL said the candidates belong to 13 recognised political parties, and one other political party. 13 candidates have expressed intentions to contest as independent candidates.

Politicians who recently expressed their intention to contest, including Sarvajana Balaya candidate Dilith Jayaweera, Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna candidate Namal Rajapaksa, Roshan Ranasinghe, and Tamil Common Candidate P. Ariyanethran, are yet to submit their cash deposits. According to the ECSL, cash deposits will be accepted until 15 August.

Meanwhile, the ECSL announced yesterday that it has received a total of 320 election-related complaints since 31 July. 317 complaints are regarding the violation of election laws while one incident of election violence was recorded, the Commission said. The majority of the complaints are said to be in relation to the misuse of public property and assets.