The Presedintial Election of Sri Lanka 2015 on the Hand of Minority

Zuhair Ali -(Ghafoori,EDM, PGD)

The new modern secular state devised a system of electoral politics for constituting Parliament, Government and (sometimes) for electing Judges. Citizens of the secular state, regardless of their religious beliefs, voted in democratic elections. Even if the elected government were to be constituted of those who worshipped Satan himself as their Lord and Master, the principle of democratic elections required that Christians, Jews, Buddhist, Muslims, etc., who voted in such elections, were obliged to accept such a government as lawful, legitimate and authorized to rule over them.

They were also obliged to submit to its authority and be obedient to it. If the elections were to produce a government dominated by idol-worshipping Hindus who were openly hostile to those who worshipped the God of Abraham (‘PBUH), or a government which declared to be Halal (permissible) everything which Allah Most High had declared to be Haram (prohibited), then the principle of democratic elections required that Jews, Christians, Muslims etc., who were citizens of that secular state, must recognize that government as their lawful government, submit to its authority, and be obedient to it.

There is nothing in the revealed scriptures (Torah, Gospel, Qur’an) or the Sunnah (example or way of life) of the Prophets that can be used to justify Jews, Christians, Muslims, etc., participating in such elections in which they freely vote for such a government as lawful to govern over them. On the contrary, there is very clear prohibition of such conduct!

“… nor does He share His Command (i.e., His Sovereignty, Supreme Authority, Governance, Rule, etc.) with anyone whatsoever.” 

(Qur’an, al-Kahf, 18:26)

Presidential election 2015,this will be a tough completion between both main candidate where tha Mahinda Rajapakse was very confident to obtained vote from the majority and this time the minority peoples will be the key maker, and most of minority peoples will be pledge support to Mithripala Sirisena (common candidate) no doughty.

Presidential elections will be held in Sri Lanka on 8 January 2015, two years ahead of schedule. The incumbentPresident Mahinda Rajapaksa is the United People's Freedom Alliance's candidate and is seeking a third term in office. The United National Party (UNP)-led opposition coalition have chosen to field Maithripala Sirisena, the Minister of Health inRajapaksa's government and general secretary of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) - the main constituent party of the UPFA - as the common candidate.

Protest against Rajapaksa seeking a third term, 18 November 2014

According to the constitution, the normal term of office for a president is six years, although an incumbent may call an election at any time after four years in office. In November 2009, buoyed by the government's defeat of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in May 2009, incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa called an early presidential election. In the elections held in January 2010 Rajapaksa secured a second term in office, defeating common opposition candidate Sarath Fonseka. In February 2010 theSupreme Court ruled that Rajapaksa's second term would begin in November 2010, and was accordingly sworn in on 19 November 2010.

 In September 2010 Parliament, which was controlled by Rajapaksa's UPFA, passed the eighteenth amendment to the constitution, removing the two term limit on presidents, allowing Rajapaksa to run for a third term.

There was speculation in mid-2014 that Rajapaksa would call another early presidential election: on 20 October 2014 Minister of Mass Media and Information Keheliya Rambukwella confirmed that the election would be held in January 2015. Critics of Rajapaksa, including the Bar Association and former Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva, claimed that he could not stand for re-election as he had won his second term before the eighteenth amendment to the constitution had been passed. In early November 2014 Rajapaksa sought the Supreme Court's opinion on whether he could stand for re-election. The court ruled that Rajapaksa could stand for re-election. The independence of the Supreme Court has been questioned since the UPFA impeached former Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake, allowing Rajapaksa to appoint an ally and legal adviser, former Attorney General Mohan Peiris, as Chief Justice.

On 20 November 2014 Rajapaksa issued a proclamation calling for a presidential election at which he would seek re-election. The following day election commissioner Mahinda Desapriya announced that nominations would be taken on 8 December 2014 and that the election would be held on 8 January 2015. If Rajapaksa is re-elected, his third term will begin on 19 November 2015; if not, the winning candidate will take office immediately.

15,044,490 Sri Lankans will be eligible to vote at the election. Postal voting will take place on 23 and 24 December 2014. Foreign monitors are to be invited to observe the election but not from the United Nations.

Mahinda Rajapaksa

The incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa will contest as the UPFA candidate, seeking an unprecedented third term. He has also received the backing of a number of small constituent parties of the UPFA including the Ceylon Workers' Congress, Communist Party, Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP), National Freedom Front, National Union of Workersand the Up-Country People's Front. On nomination day, 8 December 2014, two opposition MPs, Tissa Attanayake and Jayantha Ketagoda, defected to the government to support Rajapaksa. Attanayake was later appointed Minister of Health - the post previously held by Sirisena.

However, the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) withdrew from UPFA government on 18 November 2014 citing Rajapaksa's refusal to reform the executive presidency and enact reforms to promote accountability.

Maithripala Sirisena

In the run up to the election being called several names had been suggested for nomination as the common opposition candidate: former president Chandrika Kumaratunga,UNP leader Ranil Wickremasinghe, UNP Leadership Council Chairman Karu Jayasuriya, former Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake and leader of the National Movement for Social Justice Maduluwawe Sobitha Thero.

 However, on 21 November 2014, after the election had been called, Maithripala Sirisena, was revealed as the common opposition candidate by the UNP. Sirisena had been Minister of Health in Rajapaksa's government and general secretary of the SLFP before defecting to the opposition coalition.

 Sirisena immediately received the support of former president Chandrika Kumaratunga and several UPFA MPs that had defected alongside him (Duminda Dissanayake, M. K. D. S. Gunawardena, Wasantha Senanayake, Rajitha Senaratne, Rajiva Wijesinha). Sirisena and the other UPFA MPs were stripped of their ministerial positions and expelled from the SLFP. On 30 November minister Navin Dissanayake resigned from the UPFA government and defected to the opposition to support Sirisena. Two deputy ministers, Palani Digambaran and Velusami Radhakrishnan, resigned from the UPFA government on 10 December 2014 to support Sirisena.

Sirisena has pledged to abolish the executive presidency within 100 days of being elected, repeal the controversial eighteenth amendment, re-instate the seventeenth amendment and appoint UNP leader Ranil Wickremasinghe as Prime Minister. On 1 December 2014 Sirisena signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with 36 opposition parties/civic groups promising to abolish the executive presidency, hold parliamentary elections, form an all-party national government and carry out various political reforms. Signatories to the MOU include the UNP, Sarath Fonseka's Democratic Party, Democratic People's Front, Azath Salley's Muslim Tamil National Alliance, Free Media Movement, Federation of University Teachers Association as well as dissident groups of the LSSP and Communist Party. The following day the JHU announced that it was supporting Sirisena in the presidential election.

Sirisena is to contest as the New Democratic Front (NDF) candidate under its swan symbol. Common opposition candidate Sarath Fonseka contested the 2010 presidential election as a NDF candidate under its swan symbol.

This election, like past Sri Lankan elections, has been characterised by violence, misuse of state resources and other violations of election laws. Local election monitoring groups have described the violations as shameless and condemned the police for their inaction. The government has accused some local election monitoring groups of being biased in favour of the opposition candidate and of being funded by foreign countries. The International Crisis Group has warned that the tighter the election, the more violent it will be and should Rajapaksa lose he may use the military or the "politically-compliant" Supreme Court to retain power.

By 12 December 2014 the Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) had received 98 complaints of which 29 related to violence, including ten incidents involving firearms. The People's Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) has recorded 175 cases of violations by 14 December including 48 incidents of violence. According to PAFFREL 19 people had been hospitalised due to the violence. On 17 December 2014 the police said they had received 49 complaints and arrested 30 individuals, and they warned local politicians that they would face "dire consequences if they were to step beyond the boundaries of the law".

A Buddhist vihara in Borella belonging to JHU MP Athuraliye Rathana Thero was attacked on 20 November 2014, two days after the JHU left the UPFA government. On the evening of 21 November 2014 UNP member Chamila Ranasinghe was shot at Maggona in Payagala as UNP supporters celebrated the crossover of UPFA MPs to the opposition.

 The houses of two UNP supporters from Madampe, Milton and Sudeh Priyankara, were shot at on the night of 22/23 November 2014.The office of UNP MP M. H. A. Haleem in Mawilmada was shot at in the early hours of 25 November 2014. A rice truck belonging Sirisena's brother Dudley Sirisena and its crew were attacked in Marandagahamula on 29 November 2014. A group of UNP supporters were attacked by UPFA supporters in Gelioya on the night of 30 November 2014. UPFA local councillor Shiron Fernando, who had defected to the opposition to support Sirisena, was attacked at his home in Bolewatte near Wennappuwa.

On the morning of 17 December 2014 a stage that Sirisena had been intending to use for a rally at Wanduramba near Galle was set on fire along along with a vehicle by an unidentified group, and three workers installing the stage were abducted.

On 22 November 2014, PEO TV internet protocol television network (IPTV) and Dialog TV satellite television network had reportedly blocked the Sirasa TV from broadcasting the "Satana" program which interviewed the common opposition candidate Sirisena and several other members of opposition.  Tisara Samal Somaratne, a journalist for Hiru TVand Ada newspaper, was attacked by UPFA supporters in Eppawala on 5 December 2014 and later threatened by UPFA supporters whilst receiving hospital treatment.

The 30 November 2014 edition of the Ravaya newspaper contained a story claiming that the State Intelligence Service had carried out a survey which showed that the opposition candidate would win the election by 59% to 41%. The editor of the paper K. W. Janaranjana was later interrogated about the story by the Criminal Investigation Department. According to Ravaya, newspaper distributors had been threatened not to sell the paper.

On nomination day, 8 December 2014, all English and Sinhala language newspapers in the country carried a front-page promotion of Rajapaksa's war victory whilst Tamil language newspapers carried an advertisement showing Rajapaksa re-opening the railway line to Jaffna.

Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) has documented incidents of state employees, including those from Road Development Authorityand the Sri Lanka Civil Security Force, carrying out election propaganda work for the Rajapaksa campaign. TISL has also alleged that over 1,000 buses belonging to the state-owned Sri Lanka Transport Board had been used to transport people long distances to attend Rajapaksa rallies. TISL has complained to the Election Commissioner regarding state-owned TV stations (Rupavahini and Independent Television Network) carrying live broadcasts of Rajapaksa rallies - a violation of election laws. The Election Commissioner has asked the state broadcasters not to broadcast programmes supporting Rajapaksa.

The UNP has alleged that employees of the state-owned Sri Lanka Ports Authority are being used for election propaganda work for the Rajapaksa campaign. The Jathika Sevaka Sangamaya (a pro-UNP trade union) has alleged that more than 1,000 employees of Colombo Port have been transferred to carry out election work for the Rajapaksa campaign.

Government employees have been photographed by The Sunday Times putting up Rajapaksa posters on the Southern Expressway. The newspaper has also reported that several senior diplomats had been recalled to Sri Lanka to work on Rajapaksa's campaign. CaFFE has claimed that 44 prisoners from Galle Prison were used to erect the stage for a Rajapaksa rally at Kamburupitiya on 14 December 2014.

104 election monitors from the South Asian Election Monitoring Forum, South Asian Election Monitoring Association, Asian Election Monitoring Network and the Commonwealthare expected to arrive in Sri Lanka on 27 December 2014. Monitors from the European Election Monitoring Association are also expected to be called upon. The Election Commissioner has offered six election monitoring groups the opportunity to monitor the count at only 300 of the 1,200 counting centres.

Meanwhile, specially the minority party which were with ruling party has decided to pledge their support to Common candidate such ACMC, SLMC and finally,TNA also joined with common candidate means the minority Muslims and Hindu (Tamil) going to be a key voters to common candidate where most of majority district like Colombo Polannaruwa,Anuradapura,Trinco,Batticalo,Jaffna,Vavuniya,Kandy,Nuwareliya,Badulla etc has already decided to vote common candidate, also the main reason are Executive Presidency is anti-democratic and it should be abolished, destroy family hood politics,injustuice,no protection for minority etc..

Say, "O Allah , Owner of Sovereignty, You give sovereignty to whom You will and You take sovereignty away from whom You will. You honor whom You will and You humble whom You will. In Your hand is [all] good. Indeed, You are over all things competent (Al-Quran 3-26)