UNP Galle district MP and Minister Vajira Abeywardena says his party has faced much worse situations in the past when selecting Presidential candidates but the latest struggle has resulted in the best option for the DNF alliance led by the green party to win the upcoming election.
In an interview with Sunday Observer he said Sajith Premadasa was nominated by UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and the minority parties will have faith in his decision.
Excerpts of the interview:
Q. A number of names were proposed as the Presidential candidate from the DNF camp. What finally won Minister Sajith Premadasa the title?
This is not the first time UNP is nominating a Presidential candidate. After 1978, the party’s working committee faced numerous issues when nominating Presidential candidates. Former President J.R. Jayewardene confronted a similar situation when nominating R. Premadasa as the Presidential candidate. Several names were proposed at the time also.
In 1992, we had to choose a Presidential candidate. Ranil Wickremesinghe was the then Prime Minister. At the time, Gamini Dissanayake, who walked out on the party, was back in the fold. Finally, Gamini Dissanayake was named the candidate in keeping with the party constitution. But he was assassinated during the campaign trail and then the party was forced to find an alternative candidate in a hurry. I remember by 8.30am on the day the announcement was to be made, Ranil Wickremasinghe was proposed as the alternative candidate. But by 3.30pm, the working committee decided to field Srima Dissanayake.
Even during this time, there were several opinions doing the rounds on the candidate of our UNP led coalition, whether to field Ranil as Presidential candidate and Sajith as Prime Ministerial candidate, or vise versa. Then Ranil Wickremesinghe, as a seasoned politician, without falling into the opponent’s trap to divide the party, proposed Sajith Premadasa as the candidate after weighing in all odds. It was a unanimous decision at the working committee.
Now we have set aside all our differences to make our candidate the winner at the upcoming election. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Sajith Premadasa will definitely win this election.
Q. Speaker Karu Jayasuriya’s name was also proposed as a prospective candidate?
He displayed an outstanding leadership within the parliament and outside to protect the interests of the DNF government during the 52 day constitutional crisis. He did not back out from his responsibility when President took a sudden decision to appoint Mahinda Rajapaksa as the new PM. He defiantly played his role and overcame the situation. His role was not confined to Sri Lanka’s parliament.
Yes, I think his name was among the list of candidates. He was also consulted before the final decision on the DNF candidate was taken on Thursday (26).
Q. There were people within the party who did not support his candidacy. Have they pledged support to Sajith Premadasa now?
UNP is not a Sinhala Buddhist only party, yet it conforms with Sri Lanka’s constitution which upholds Buddhism. This is a party that represents and serves people of different ethnicities and faiths. It has a constitution to provide for people to leave it at anytime if they feel their own principles clashed with its ideology. S.W.R.D.Bandaranaike did it and the party still has the same constitution which ensures these freedoms.
UNP consist of members with different opinions. I believe that we should stand by those principled opinions with a backbone. However, when it comes to party decisions, everyone has to fall in line.
Q. TNA vote base was a major factor during the presidential election in 2015. Have you already come to an understanding on their support this time, given that the TNA was not very keen on a Premadasa candidacy?
They viewed Ranil Wickremesinghe as a strong politician in South Asia and a person with the best understanding on the ethnic issue with his 40 years of political maturity. They think a junior politician will not look at this issue with the same understanding or insight.
The Tamil parties consider him a better option for the position of executive president. He is a 70 year old mature politician. We should remember J.R. Jayewardene was 72 when he was first nominated the Presidential candidate. He left office of President when he was 82.
They were strongly of the view a young candidate will have to study the history all over again and that means further postponement of any solution to the ethnic issue. Such candidate from any party will have his eyes set on winning the election and making promises to that end.
TNA’s ‘intellect’ strongly harbor this perception. But Ranil Wickremesinghe, on the contrary, will not have any personal goals, he has only the national interest in mind. They believed in him and I think what they believed is right.
The Tamil parties will stand by his decision and now we have a good combination of Ranil-Sajith duo to win the election, settle the age old ethnic issue for good and steer the country to prosperity.
Q. Will the UNP reveal its new stance on the Executive Presidency and constitutional reforms?
The UNP has nothing new to reveal. The party, at a convention in Kataragama in 1995, adopted a resolution to abolish executive presidency. At a working committee meeting, this resolution was adopted in a vote. It was a division by name.
A majority voted in favor and, if I remember well, only myself and V.J.M Lokubandara voted against it then. We need to find a solution to this 72 year old problem, no politician can shirk their responsibility for personal goals. The party has already voted on a resolution and we have to act on it.
Q. Have the factions within the UNP come to an agreement on the Prime Minister post after the 2020 general election?
No need for any understandings, the 19th amendment is very clear. The new Executive President will have very little governing powers left in his office. He cannot hold any portfolios and the person who commands majority support in the House will be appointed as the PM. The amendment ensures power vested in the parliament and the PM. Certain changes proposed in the 19th amendment were withheld until a people’s referendum, what we can do now is to either hold a referendum separately or together with the next general election and complete the 19-A process.
Q. Shouldn’t the electoral changes supplement the 19-A? There is a school of thought that scrapping or toning-down of executive presidency without electoral changes will pave the way for instability in the country, since the present system of parliamentary election, often than not, result in hung parliaments.
The original electoral system brought in by J.R. Jayewardene was subject to ad-hoc changes by our people resulting in a crooked system. Those who know little blame him for the present, much criticized, preferential system. But it was introduced in an amendment by (former UNP Ministers) A.C.S. Hameed, Lalith Athulathmudali and a few others.
In the original system of election, the political party received the votes and the MPs were chosen by a list nominated by the party. It was to maintain party discipline. He knew in a country governed by indiscipline, he needed strict regulations to maintain order.
Another such ad-hoc change was the dropping of 12.5% threshold to 5% for an opposition candidate to win a seat in parliament. This made the UNP to sit in opposition in 1994 election after 17 years of rule. We lost with only one seat and the JVP reentered parliament winning a single seat in Hambantota thanks to that change.
Q. Do you think abolition of executive presidency and a system of elected PM, two key reforms the UNP has vouched for, can be realized in the near future?
The incumbent executive president’s contribution is essential to abolish the executive presidency. JVP did try to do that before the next presidential election. They wanted to get the 20th amendment passed in parliament and were trying to save this country a huge sum of money wasted on an election to elect a nominal president. We must give them credit for this effort that was shot down unceremoniously by the opposition.
Q. There were reports of conditions being set by party leadership to hand over candidacy to Minister Sajith Premadasa. After his nomination it was said the working committee agreed on certain proposals on abolition of executive presidency and constitutional reforms. Have those conditions come in the form of proposals?
Party policies are not conditions.
Q. Why did you switch to the swan symbol?
We have contested under the swan symbol before, winning some and losing others. Swan can withstand any outcome. The symbol should be acceptable and common to all parties and groups represented in the DNF. We must also heed the voice of alliance members since they responded positively to our call to field a UNP candidate. Besides the symbol will be neutral for those who are not so gung-ho about UNP policies.
Q. Was it a secret UNP strategy to make it a big controversy and wait till the last moment to unveil your candidate?
Anyone is free to wonder. It’s a free country.
Q. Do you think you have enough time to campaign for the election?
We have always been campaigning for the next election, there is nothing to do afresh. We will win the coming election for certain.
Q. Any plans to join forces with the SLFP and the President?
I am not aware of any such plans.