News
New parties in the fray believe only they can make the change that the people want
View(s):By Sandun Jayawardana
While most of the older, more established political parties are contesting the upcoming parliamentary election, many newer parties that might be less familiar to voters are also in the mix. The Sunday Timesspoke to a few of the more prominent candidates who are contesting from some of these parties and asked why they chose to contest from these parties, what their party policies are and why people should vote for them.
Maithri Gunaratne
The United National Freedom Front (UNFF) is contesting in 12 of the country’s 22 electoral districts under the ‘spectacles’ symbol. Among the electoral districts the party is contesting are Colombo, Gampaha, Kurunegala, Anuradhapura, Kegalle, Ratnapura, Matara, Jaffna and Batticaloa. One main reason the party chose to contest was due to the National Peoples Power (NPP) seeking a 2/3 majority at the parliamentary election, UNFF Colombo district candidate and former governor Maithri Gunaratne told the Sunday Times.
“We have experienced the misery caused to the country when people give a 5/6 or 2/3 majority,” Mr Gunaratne said. He added that the party is prepared to support President Anura Kumara Dissanayake unconditionally in whatever positive thing he does for the country. Nevertheless, however good President Dissanayake appears to be, the UNFF is not in favour of giving a 2/3rd majority to anyone in Parliament, he stressed, adding that a simple majority is enough to govern effectively. “The moment you give too much power, however good their intentions are, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Therefore, we are totally against giving them 2/3. That is the main reason we are contesting.”
The second reason they are contesting is that people have lost faith in all the political parties who have been in Parliament for many years, Mr Gunaratne claimed. “We are a new political party. All our candidates who are contesting have not been in Parliament before. So we fit the bill. The general demand of the people was for the 225 in Parliament to be sent home and for a new lot to come.”
Ranjan Ramanayake
As for his own candidacy, Mr. Gunaratne, a President’s Counsel, said he can use his experience of having served as a politician for 30 years to serve the people effectively in Parliament. Mr Gunaratne is a former provincial council member and has served as governor of two provinces. He also pointed to his experience in efficiently running government organisations such as Lanka Mineral Sands and Lanka Coal Company.
The Arunalu Janatha Peramuna (AJP) is contesting in 18 districts including Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara, Kandy, Badulla, Nuwara Eliya, Ampara and Jaffna under the ‘water tap’ symbol. Party Co-Chairman and Colombo District Leader Janaka Ratnayake said they have a good mix of candidates from different communities and diverse backgrounds.
Referring to the country’s economic crisis, Mr. Ratnayake said no party has drawn up a plan to improve the country’s income. “Even the present government seems to be waiting until it can obtain a majority. But you don’t need a majority to improve the country’s economic situation,” he said. While obtaining “low-cost funding” from other nations or organisations like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, the party would focus on increasing the country’s GDP, tourism, exports, remittances and attracting more Foreign Direct Investments, he explained.
“If your plan is to depend on loans to improve your income, this country will never develop and prosper. We have very clear-cut plans on how to improve our income,” he remarked.
Mr. Ratnayake, who served as the Chairman and CEO of several institutions, including as the former Chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL), recounted that he was removed from this last position by a majority vote in Parliament. “I think it’s a privilege to be ousted like that because I worked for the people. I’m still working for the people using my private funds,” he added.
Nuwan Bopage
Mr. Ratnayake said all the well-known political parties have been chased out by the people. “My appeal to voters is, do not select unknown persons from known parties. Rather, select known people who have worked for the people contesting from relatively new, unknown parties.”
Actor-turned politician Ranjan Ramanayake meanwhile, is contesting this year’s election from an entirely new party known as the United Democratic Voice (UDV) under the symbol of the ‘microphone.’ The party is only contesting nine electoral districts this time as it didn’t have enough time to interview prospective candidates and submit nominations for other districts, Mr. Ramanayake told the Sunday Times. The districts the UDV is contesting are Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara, Puttalam, Polonnaruwa Nuwara Eliya, Badulla, Matale and Galle.
“My voters wanted me to contest separately from political parties who have corrupt candidates in their ranks. That was why I chose to contest with an entirely new party,” the former MP, who is contesting from the Gampaha district said.
He said his party is all for turning the country into a prosperous nation like President Dissanayake wants. “We are fine with the rich getting richer but the poor cannot become poorer. They too must become rich. That is our policy.”
Janaka Ratnayake - Pix by Eshan Fernando
Mr. Ramanayake claimed he was receiving assistance from many Sri Lankans settled the world over. He opined this is because the people trusted his party that whatever contributions they give will all find its way to the people “as we are not corrupt.”
While the UDV is only contesting nine districts at this election, Mr Ramanayake said they are hoping to contest from many more areas in the upcoming provincial council and local government elections.
The People’s Struggle Alliance (PSA) is contesting all 22 electoral districts at the upcoming election under the ‘umbrella’ symbol. It’s Colombo District Leader Nuwan Bopage, who was the party’s candidate at the recently concluded presidential election, said that people decided to reject the traditional political parties at the presidential election. “They chose to give power to someone from a political movement that had never held state power before in the belief that this will solve their problems,” he noted.
Mr. Bopage however, argued that the opposition too should share blame for the crisis the country has found itself in. “When the Rajapaksas and Wickremesinghes were taking so many loans that eventually bankrupted us, none of the parties in opposition had the courage to confront them. They basically kept one foot in both camps and some of their MPs even crossed over to the government side. Our message to the people at this election is that, just like they changed the government at the presidential election, they should also change the opposition at the parliamentary election. The role of the opposition cannot be played by the Samagi Jana Balawegaya, New Democratic Front or the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna as their politics have been rejected by the people.”
He claimed that the PSA was the only party to offer an alternative programme at the presidential election. In comparison, the policies of Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Sajith Premadasa and Ranil Wickremesinghe were essentially the same. “We were the only party that advocated for withdrawing from the IMF agreement. We also opposed Indian and American intervention in Sri Lanka’s internal affairs. We are the only viable alternative opposition, which is why we are asking the public to give us the opportunity to do that in Parliament,” he stressed.
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