Presidential election: general Fonseka meets Mgr Ranjith
Colombo (AsiaNews) –Sri Lankans are getting ready for the presidential election scheduled for 26 January. Twenty-two candidates are running for the office, including incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa, and General Sarath Fonseka who is running for the opposition United National Party (UNP) and People’s Liberation Front (JVP).
On 1 January, Fonseka met Colombo's Catholic archbishop, Mgr Malcom Ranjith. The two men discussed how to improve inter-ethnic coexistence, launch interfaith dialogue and work on policies that favour national unity.
In particular, Mgr Ranjith asked General Fonseka to work in favour of a shared solution that would permanently ensure freedom of religion, freedom of speech as well as the rights of minorities and religious groups' right to build their own places of worship.
There are also other important issues in this election campaign, most notably the economy and political reforms.
The next president will not be able to ignore for long the country's economic crisis nor the widespread dissatisfaction of the population. He will also have to tackle the problems associated with the development of the country's northern and eastern regions, which were until recently a war zone.
The National Peace Council, an NGO involved in the country's peace process, has also intervened in the debate. In a statement, it expressed its support for the moral regeneration of the country's political through the "abolition of the executive presidency", "devolution of powers to the provinces" and the "depoliticisation of a number of key state institutions ".
Meanwhile, more and more people fear the election will be rigged.
The Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) and the People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) have complained of a plan to manipulate the vote. Such a plan would involve rejecting applications by refugees to register to vote (100 out of 200 applications in the Batticaloa area have already been rejected).
The two groups have also noted other irregularities such as thousands of duplicate applications and reported cases of attacks against property and physical assaults against individuals.
.png)
