Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) MP Sanjeeva Edirimanna yesterday said that President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s stance on a Presidential Election and his candidature could coincide with the SLPP’s perspective and current deliberations on holding elections.
Edirimanna said that the timing of the candidate’s announcement is crucial for a successful election campaign, and as such, the SLPP’s nominee will only be disclosed at the opportune time to initiate a strong and compelling campaign.
Edirimanna said this in response to our question about whether the SLPP would prefer to hold a Presidential or General Election first.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe had recently told a group of Ministers, State Ministers and some parliamentarians in the Government that they could not jeopardise the International Monetary Fund (IMF) program by holding elections early.
Since the IMF program is projected to conclude by the end of July, President Wickremesinghe had said that he was not in a position to hold any elections before August. He said that by law the Elections Commission is empowered to declare a Presidential Election at any time after July. Therefore, the President had said, “The Presidential Election will be held first and all other elections can follow.”
Edirimanna said that some political parties have been trying to project a negative image of the SLPP for not revealing their Presidential candidate yet. However, it is a common practice for political parties to announce their candidates a mere three to four months before the election campaign begins. He said that before the last Presidential Election on November 17, 2019, they were repeatedly asked about their candidate, but they did not announce it until August 15. Similarly, the United National Party (UNP) declared its candidate on November 21, 2014, before the election on January 8, 2015.
Declaring a candidate just before the election campaign is a standard practice and not something unusual or strange, as some political parties are trying to portray, Edirimanne said.
