“Whatever political movements he was in before being appointed to the commission, the Elections Commissioner should have acted independently even after he was appointed. Although the election could have been announced on any day between September 20 and January 9, it was dragged on until the last moment. They tried to use various legal tactics to postpone the elections, such as demarcation, reducing the number of MPs, and changing the election system. Through that, the commission has reached the point of leaning against the wall. It cannot be postponed again. But there are rumours again about an attempt to postpone the vote after accepting the nominations. We emphasize to Ranil Wickramasinghe and the government not to play various games, gambling and games with the popular opinion of the people. Ranil is a leader who was expelled without even being able to come to the parliament; A leader who was appointed for the protection of the Rajapaksas by the will of 134 members of the Rajapaksas’ parliament. We assure you that we will never allow such a leader to steal the opportunity to appoint people’s representatives, ” the leader of JVP Comrade Anura Dissanayake.
He said this while addressing a press conference held at the JVP head office yesterday (30th).
He said, “New local government institutions should have been established by March 20, 2022. But using the powers assigned to the minister, the period of the institutions was extended by another year. Although the validity period of these existing local government institutions is 04 years, now, 05 years have been completed. Due to this, the government is following various tactics to delay the people from appointing their representatives to the local government bodies. The current government came to power with the slogan of appointing Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Minister. But the people expelled Mahinda Rajapaksa from the post of Prime Minister. Therefore, this parliament now does not represent the mandate of that time.
Also, Gotabaya Rajapaksa was voted in 2019 to oust Ranil Wickramasinghe. Therefore, this president also has no mandate. He has now become the president by the vote used to oust him. The government is trying to prevent this situation from coming out in an election. By conducting the local government election or any other election, the people themselves show the president’s assessment of him and the assessment of the pohottuwa. In such a situation, the government cannot move forward from there. It is clearly confirmed that there is no mandate. Therefore, the government is carefully implementing various strategies to prevent the publication of the true referendum.
Apart from that, the rulers face another problem. The President of the United National Party and the government of Pohottuwa are facing the question of whether to compete separately or as an alliance. Therefore, they keep trying to postpone the election. But during Rajapaksa’s early regime, when he had a favourable opinion, he held intermittent elections yearly.
Punchihewa and the Election Commission are not announcing the date of holding the election on January 09 in good faith; It is to give the president and the government an opportunity to postpone the election until the last moment. It has been announced that the election date will be announced on January 5th because the next three days will be public holidays. Ranil and the government have been given the opportunity till the last day to launch any conspiracy related to postponing the election. Whatever political movements they were involved in before being appointed to the commission, they should have acted independently even after being appointed to the commission. Although the election could have been announced on any day between September 20 and January 9, it was dragged on until the last moment. They tried to use various legal tactics such as demarcation, reducing the number of MPs, and changing the election system to postpone the elections.
Through that, the commission has reached the point of leaning against the wall. The election cannot be postponed again. But there are rumours again about an attempt to postpone the election after accepting the nominations. We emphasize to Ranil Wickramasinghe and the government not to play various games with the popular opinion of the people. This is a leader who was expelled without even being able to come to the parliament; A leader who was appointed for the protection of the Rajapaksas by the will of only 134 members of the Rajapaksas’ parliament. We assure you that we will never allow such a leader to steal the opportunity to appoint people’s representatives.
People like Range Bandara and Akila Viraj of the UNP say that there is no money to hold elections.. According to the budget document passed by the Parliament on 08th last Dec, the government’s expenditure next year is 7900 billion. It is approximately 700 billion per month. Can you accept saying that the government that is spending this kind of money does not have 10 billion to hold an election? On the other hand, whether there is money or not is irrelevant to Akila Viraj and Range Bandara, who are neither public representatives. Parliament has financial power. The Director General of the Election Department has clearly stated that he has asked his department to allocate the related money from the budget including election expenses. The complaint that the parliament, which has the financial power of the government, has not allocated money should be defeated. On the other hand, it is said that if an election is held, the situation in the economy may change.
Is there such prosperity in the economy? Increasing the electricity bill at the beginning of January, levying tax on new earnings, and increasing the price of all goods and services are not factors that indicate a positive situation. Only a mandated government of the people can restore a collapsed economy. Those who have destroyed a country have never built an economy.
When a gang that is in control takes over a country under the guise of several articles of the constitution just like when the pirates captured a ship in Somalia, the crisis will only intensify. The people must decide that a new government is needed to escape the crisis. We must defeat all the efforts to postpone the election. We emphasize to the government not to be ready to gamble and play games with the mandate and opinion of the people of this country. All efforts to postpone the elections have been defeated so far and if they prepare for such a thing after the nominations are called, they will also be definitely defeated. All the destruction that can be done to our country with the old traditional extermination camps has already been done. Therefore, we expect that the people will line up to take the first leap that will open the necessary doors for a new government. We are doing everything to win the election.”