D-Day for Democracy

Thursday, 8 January 2015 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Over 15 million voters head to polling booths across the island to cast their ballots in the country’s eighth presidential election - a contest that has become too close to call in the home stretch. Nineteen candidates will contest today’s election, but the two main contenders for the highest office of the land will be Mahinda Rajapaksa and Maithripala Sirisena. Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya, very much the man of the moment, was brimming with confidence in his ability to ensure a free and fair poll on election eve, despite an upsurge in violence in the last week of campaigning and fears about a military build-up in the North and East affecting voter turnout. “To ensure a fair poll, I need support. Journalists, police and election monitors - they must all cooperate - I am certain they will,” the Polls Chief said at the Elections Secretariat last afternoon. His department will oversee 12,341 polling stations around the island today. “I will have no hesitation in cancelling the poll at any polling station if there is a threat or intimidation of voters or polling officials,” Deshapriya said. The Polls Chief warned that he would annul polling in the entire polling division if such incidents occurred, and set a date for a re-poll. As the country heads into one of its most closely fought presidential contests, the Elections Chief explained that his officials would go in for a second count if neither candidate reaches the 50 percent mark after the first round of counting is complete. “If there is no result after the second count, we’ll toss for the winner,” he quipped at a press briefing yesterday. Deshapriya said the vote counting would begin at 7PM - three hours after polling ends on Thursday night. He said the Elections Department would wait for all ballot boxes to reach the counting centres before commencing the count. The 2015 presidential poll will make history for several reasons, with President Mahinda Rajapaksa being the only incumbent to contest a third term in office. His main challenger Maithripala Sirisena was President Rajapaksa’s Health Minister only four weeks ago and with his surprise bid has succeeded in posing the most serious threat to incumbent reign in nine years. D-Day for... President Rajapaksa took a major gamble on 20 November, calling a snap election with two years left in his second term. His re-election campaign focused heavily on his national security credentials as Sri Lanka’s war-winning head of state and mega-development drive post-war. However his re-election bid was marred by a string of defections from the ruling party, causing his two-thirds majority in Parliament to plummet. Hundreds of local councillors defecting to the Opposition also eroded grassroots support for the President as the campaign wore on. Maithripala Sirisena, the candidate of the common opposition, a broad coalition of political parties, trade unions, academics, artistes and civil society groups has campaigned against President Rajapaksa’s nine-year rule, blaming him and his family for corruption, abuse of power and autocratic conduct. Sirisena has pledged to abolish the office of the executive president within 100 days of assuming power. Tamil and Muslim voters are likely to trend heavily for the Opposition, with the Tamil National Alliance and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress endorsing Sirisena’s candidacy in eleventh hour decisions. President Rajapaksa will need a large chunk of votes from the Sinhalese-Buddhist constituency - analysts say up to 65% - to carry today’s election. President Rajapaksa’s intransigence on delivering a political solution to the Tamils since the end of the war has alienated the constituency from his administration. However, some Tamil groups and politicians accuse the Opposition of making no significant pledges on key issues of devolution, resettlement and land grabbing by the state. The emergence of hardline groups targeting the minority Muslim community in a string of attacks has similarly alienated the Muslim demographic from the incumbency. In the history of Sri Lankan presidential elections, an incumbent has never been unseated by election. Polling from both campaigns and independently compiled statistical data have the two main candidates neck and neck, with neither expected to win by landslide margins.

Ranil requests voters to exercise their franchise courageously

Main opposition and United National Party (UNP) leader Ranil Wickremasinghe yesterday asked the voters to exercise their franchise “silently, courageously and with a sense of pride.” Issuing a special statement Wickremasinghe said no one can stop, coerce or in any other way wrest this right to vote away from the people. Full text of Opposition Leader’s statement The people of our country will have yet another opportunity to exercise their democratic right to choose a leader of their choice. No one can stop, coerce or in any other way wrest this right away from them. I request with all sincerity and with the greatest respect from all our voters that they proceed to their respective polling booths and exercise their franchise silently, courageously and with a sense of pride. I also request that everyone, regardless of the candidate they voted for, celebrate the victory of democracy after the final results are announced in a spirit of friendship drawn from the commonality of shared citizenship in our fair land. In particular, as the Leader of the Opposition, I request that you contribute to building a new and more wholesome political culture in our country by standing up to defend your neighbour who may have been at odds with you politically should the need arise.