Sri Lanka’s powerful business and employers join in ‘clean candidates’ campaign for Aug 17 poll

      A strong group comprising employers, business chambers and professionals emerged on Wednesday saying it was strongly backing the March 12^th declaration by polls monicampaigntor PAFFREL and the Citizens Collective to collect a million signatures from the Sri Lankan public urging political parties to nominate “clean’ candidates. The PAFFREL-led campaign which began on June 25 will conclude on July 6 ahead of parliamentary polls scheduled for August 17. A statement was issued by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) on behalf of Sri Lanka’s joint business chambers, the Organisation of Professional Associations of Sri Lanka, the Executive Committee of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka and the Employers Federation of Ceylon, saying they were endorsing the ‘clean’ candidates campaign. The campaign urging the political parties to nominate “clean candidates” is currently underway and travelling across the island. It started on June 25 and will conclude on July 6 at a meeting at which the petition with signatures collected across the island would be handed over to the leaders of political parties. The statement said that an online signature campaign has also been launched, and can be accessed through following link: https://www.change.org/p/calling-all-political-parties-in-sri-lanka-for-clean-politics-and-a-clean-parliament The joint chambers comprise the CCC, National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka, National Chamber of Exporters, Federation of Chambers of Commerce & Industry of Sri Lanka, International Chamber of Commerce, Joint Apparel Association Forum, Ceylon National Chamber of Industries, Chamber of Young Lanka Entrepreneurs while they have been joined by the Executive Committee of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, Organisation of Professional Associations of Sri Lanka and the Employers’ Federation of Ceylon. The group said it has made a collective decision to back the ‘March 12th Declaration’. The statement said the the ‘March 12th Movement for Clean Politics’ (M12M) is planning to launch a series of nation-wide activities in the future, to bring about pressure on all political parties to refrain from nominating candidates of disrepute whilst also creating awareness amongst the public on the importance of electing politicians who have not involved in frauds, violent activities and crimes etc. By adhering to these guidelines political parties will help towards creating and guaranteeing the most essential conducive environment for democracy, good governance, rule of law and transparency, to the legislature (the Parliament),