In the wake of criticism against their previous selection of only six Presidential candidates for a public debate,
the March 12th Movement yesterday (21) made an open invitation to all 39 Presidential candidates to participate in the said debate.
The organisation of the debate in question was announced on Tuesday (20), and was met with criticism from several Presidential candidates such as Janaka Ratnayake of the United Lanka People's Party and President’s Counsel Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe of the National Democratic Front. They charged that the selection of only six candidates for the debate when there are 39 candidates was not fair, and that such caused serious injustice to the rest of the candidates.
Amidst reports that the debate was being organised by the People's Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL), the March 12th Movement's Co-Convenors Nadeeshani Perera and Rohana Hettiarachchi, issuing a media statement yesterday, stated that the debate was being organised by the March 12th Movement of which PAFFREL is an operations committee member and a co-convenor of.
“The debate will be held on 7 September as planned. In consideration of the enthusiasm expressed by the other Presidential candidates in the debate, the March 12th Movement has decided to hold it in several stages. As the operations committee of the Movement, we openly invite all 39 Presidential candidates to participate in the debate,” the statement read, and invited the candidates to confirm their participation before 12 noon on 24 August.
Issuing another related statement, the March 12th Movement also invited citizens to submit questions that they would like to pose to the Presidential candidates during the debate. “These questions can be sent through social media, electronic mail, or by post, offering multiple avenues for public engagement. To ensure that the debate remains focused on critical governance related matters, all questions must be specific and targeted towards particular governance-related issues. The questions will be finalised by an expert panel appointed by the March 12th Movement.”
The six Presidential candidates who were initially reported to have been selected for the debate organised included incumbent President and independent candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe, Samagi Jana Balawegaya and Opposition Leader and the candidate representing the former Sajith Premadasa, the National People’s Power Leader and Opposition Parliamentarian Anura Kumara Dissanayake, ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna candidate and Government MP Namal Rajapaksa, the Sri Lanka Communist Party's candidate, attorney and entrepreneur Dilith Jayaweera, and the common Tamil candidate and former MP P. Ariyanethiran.
(themorning.lk)
