Electoral Success Calls For Greater Transparency Rather Than Less

    [dr Jehan Perera]

The deadline for presidential elections is fast approaching and the Election Commissioner will be empowered to declare the date of the election on July 17, just over a week from now. The election rallies are becoming larger and feistier. The two main opposition parties are showing their growing strength in the numbers attending their political rallies. The government too is unifying to meet the challenge. The most recent public meeting brought together the leading members of the ruling SLPP who have been thought to be at loggerheads. Many have resurfaced into the public domain, which they lost when the economy collapsed and they had to go into hiding.

The present indications are that President Ranil Wickremesinghe may contest the presidential election with the support of the ruling party as well as the support of other parties, groups and individuals, several of which have openly pledged their support to him. There is, however, a downside to this. The leaders of the ruling party, which also led the country down the economic precipice, are viewed with disfavor by many voters. This might cause them to withhold their vote from the president to whom they show no similar antipathy. The president retains the option of contesting as an independent candidate, which would release him from the obligation of campaigning under the banner of any one political party. He would thereby not limit his attraction to voters which has been registering a steady increase according to public opinion ...