Major political alliances won’t cooperate with EC’s initiative

Major political alliances won’t 

cooperate with EC’s initiative

Marking second and third preferences:

By Shamindra Ferdinando The Island 2024/08/17

Election Commission Chairman R.M.A.L. Rathnayake yesterday (16) said that unlike any previous presidential poll, they may have to go for a second count due to there being several prominent candidates in the fray at the 21 September Presidential Election.

Rathnayake said so when The Island asked him whether the EC would launch a special programme to educate the voters regarding the pivotal importance of the second and third preferences. “We are in the process of formulating a programme involving print and electronic media as well as social media,” the Chairman said.

However, top spokespersons for major political parties and alliances told The Island that they wouldn’t support such an endeavour.

Referring to presidential elections held in 1982 (six contestants), 1988 (three contestants), 1994 (six contestants), 1999 (13 contestants), 2005 (13 contestants), 2010 (22 contestants), 2015 (19 contestants) and 2019 (35 contestants), Rathnayake said that second and third preferences hadn’t been an issue at all for want of a ‘serious’ third candidate at any election. However, against the backdrop of post-Aragalaya developments, the forthcoming presidential poll seemed to be different from previous elections.

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In terms of the Presidential Election Act No 15 of 1981, the winning candidate must secure 50% of the total number of votes, plus one.

Rathnayake stressed that a collective effort was needed to encourage the electorate to vote for three candidates. Responding to another query, the top EC official said that the support of political parties and alliances in the fray was required to educate the voting public.

With the addition of one million new voters, altogether 17.1 mn are eligible to vote at the first post-Aragalaya national poll.Asserting that counting of second and third preferences seemed inevitable, the EC Chief said that if that happened the releasing of results would definitely be delayed. “We never experienced such a situation before as just a minute percentage of the total vote was shared by contestants other than the two main candidates.

At the last presidential election, JVP candidate Anura Kumara Dissanayake secured a distant third position polling only 418,553 (3.16%) votes. Without making any reference to any candidate, Rathnayake said that the situation was quite different now.

Among the 39 candidates in the fray are President Ranil Wickremesinghe (Independent), Sajith Premadasa (SJB), Anura Kumara Dissanayake (JJB), Namal Rajapaksa (SLPP), Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe (Jathika Prajathanrawadi Peramuna), Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka (Independent) and Roshan Ranasinghe (Independent).

Asked whether the JVP/JJB would join the proposed EC-led campaign to educate the voting public, their top spokesperson Vijitha Herath, MP, said that they wouldn’t, under any circumstances, ask voters to choose second and third preferences. The Gampaha District parliamentarian emphasized that they strongly urged supporters to exercise their franchise in support of Anura Kumara Dissanayake.

Herath emphasized that they wouldn’t want to confuse the electorate by urging them to choose second and third preferences. How could the JVP/JJP do so when others’ policies were contradictory to theirs? “In fact, we’ll campaign against such a move,” MP Herath said.

The Island raised the same issue with SJB General Secretary Ranjith Madduma Bandara, MP, who also simply dismissed the suggestion. The SJB-led alliance wouldn’t ask its supporters to exercise their second and third preferences. The former Minister said that the SJB’s decision in this regard was not negotiable.

UNP General Secretary and former State Minister Palitha Range Bandara said that they were yet to discuss the issue, hence his inability to take a position.

SLPP General Secretary Sagara Kariyawasam, too, ruled out the possibility of them backing the EC’s initiative. “We believe our candidate Namal Rajapaksa can obtain 50% plus of the total vote. Therefore, we won’t encourage our supporters to vote for any other candidate,” parliamentarian Kariyawasam said

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