{"id":103681,"date":"2020-06-18T15:42:41","date_gmt":"2020-06-18T22:42:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=103681"},"modified":"2020-06-18T15:42:41","modified_gmt":"2020-06-18T22:42:41","slug":"parliamentary-election-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/06\/18\/parliamentary-election-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Parliamentary Election 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa MEDIA RELEASE<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

(Translation of\nthe text of <\/strong>a<\/strong> speech made by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa on Thursday,\n18 June 2020)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Venerable members of the Maha Sangha, clergymen of all other\nfaiths, Hon. Ministers, former members of Parliament and friends,  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the\nPresidential election of 16 November 2019, we will be able to convene a new\nParliament only in August 2020. The 19th Amendment provision which forbids the\ndissolution of Parliament until the lapse of four and a half years and the\nCovid-19 pandemic have together brought about a situation where the whole\ncountry has been in a transitional stage for nine full months. We have never before,\nexperienced a situation like this in our political history. This Parliamentary\nelection is essential to complete the change that the people of this country\ninitiated at the Presidential election last year.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This election is a democratic right that we won with great\ndifficulty. The yahapalana political parties tried to get this Parliamentary\nelection delayed by petitioning courts but the Supreme Court did not permit\nthat to happen. You will recall that the yahapalana government arbitrarily\ndelayed the local government elections for three years and made it impossible\nto hold the provincial councils elections. The people now have the democratic\nright to elect a government of their choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing that was proved during this prolonged transitional\nperiod after the presidential election was that like the government led by me\nbetween 2006 and 2014, the present government led by President Gotabhaya is\nalso capable of prevailing over apparently insurmountable odds. That was proved\nby the way the spread of Covid-19 was brought under control. There are other\nAsian countries like Vietnam, Hong Kong and Taiwan that have successfully\ncontrolled the spread of Covid-19. There have been no Covid-19 related deaths\nin Vietnam. Four deaths are reported from Hong Kong, and Seven from Taiwan. Sri\nLanka has had 11 Covid-19 deaths. New Zealand has also\nmanaged to keep Covid-19 deaths at 22.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It should be borne\nin mind however that Vietnam, Hong Kong and Taiwan learnt many lessons from the\n2003 SARS epidemic, and that experience helped them to control Covid-19.\nHowever Sri Lanka has been able to control Covid-19 successfully without\nsignificant experience in combatting these virus related respiratory diseases\nsuch as SARS or MERS. Our health services, armed forces and all those involved\nin the Covid-19 control operation deserve the highest praise for what they have\nachieved. This achievement was made possible by the correct political\nleadership provided by the President. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We will be facing this election, with a major achivement which\nhas brought us to the notice of the entire world even during the transitional\nperiod after the presidential election. The people are only too well aware of\nwhat would have happened to this country if the Covid-19 pandemic had hit Sri\nLanka when the yahapalana cabal was in power. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After winning the presidential election, we had to face many\ndifficulties as a minority government. Due to the 19th Amendment, the defeated\nparty was able to maintain an artificial majority in Parliament until the beginning\nof March 2020. They used that majority to undermine the government at every\nturn. When we tried to get a Vote on Account\npassed to pay suppliers for fertiliser and medicine provided to the previous\ngovernment, the yahapalana political parties blocked it. When suppliers are not\npaid, a shortage of fertiliser and medicine naturally ensues. That was how the\ndefeated yahapalana cabal sought to undermine the new government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The formation of\nthe 2015 yahapalana government was a result of foreign and local conspiracies. Their\ndefeat in November 2019 however, did not put an end to\nsuch conspiracies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within the first\ntwo or three days after the new President took office, we noticed odd stories\nappearing in the media. One news story said that pedestrians crossing the road\nwithout using marked pedestrian crossings will be fined by the police. Another\nstory said that all the beggars in Colombo would be rounded up and sent off to\ncamps and that all those begging on trains will be arrested. These were all\nfalse reports. The new dispensation that had just assumed power did not have\nthe time to discuss such low-priority matters.  What the conspirators expected from such\nproaganda was to put it into the minds of the public in a subtle way, that an\nauthoritarian President had come into power and the people will have to obey the\nrules to the letter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within days of the President taking office, there was the well\npublicised drama alleging that an employee of a Western embassy had been\nabducted, harassed and questioned. Reports about this first appeared in the\nforeign media. The Sri Lankan public got to know about it only later. All this\nwas designed to create a certain impression about the new dispensation in the\nminds of Sri Lankans as well foreigners. But the President adroitly defeated\nall these conspiracies. Investigations showed the Sri Lankan people and the\nworld that the story about the abduction of a Western embassy employee was a\ntotal fabrication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All demonstrators marching to surround the Presidential\nsecretariat were allowed to get to their destination unhindered, thus giving\nthe lie to the propaganda that a rigid, authoritarian rule had commenced under\na former military officer. All such groups of demonstrators were given a\nhearing, some were even served refreshments. No demonstration was broken up\nwith the use of tear gas, water cannon or baton charges. With this, the attempt\nto paint a picture of authoritarian rule evaporated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just as normal life resumed after bringing the spread of\nCovid-19 under control, a small group of agitators in defiance of a court\norder, tried to hold a demonstration in front of the American embassy over an\nincident that had taken place in the USA. They were all bundled off to be\nproduced in courts. Following this single incident all those who had been\nengaged in propagating falsehoods during the 2015 presidential election campaign came out in force\nto condemn what they referred to as state repression. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An actress who got caught red handed directing a video where\nshe pretends to have been injured and hospitalised after an allged assault in\n2014, and another long haired individual who said that it would have been\nbetter if he had been thrown into a drain soon after brith to save him the pain\nof living in a country ruled by the Rajapaksas, were once again seen in public\nafter a lapse of five years.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The yahapalana\ngovernment from 2015 to 2019 was preoccupied with fighting off demonstrators\nwith tear gas, water cannon and baton charges. On most days of the week, Lotus\nRoad near the presidential secretariat resembled a battle field. You will\nrecall that a baton charge on a demonstration by disabled ex-armed forces\npersonnel resulted in one disabled ex-soldier losing an eye. The agitators in\nfront of the American embassy who were recently hauled off to courts by the\npolice were themselves frequent recepients of the yahapalana government\u2019s tear\ngas, water cannon and baton charge hospitality on Lotus Road. Those who never\nsaid a word about the way the yahapalana government responded to demonstrations\nare now making a hue and cry about this single, minor incident that took place\nunder our watch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a government, we are not happy with the manner in which that\ndemonstration was dealt with, and we have said so publicly. Those involved in\nthis incident were professional agitators who know how to provoke the police.\nEven after a police officer read out the court order banning the demonstration,\nthe agitators claimed they were not shown any such order. The police also\nshould not allow themselves to be provoked in that manner. These agitators need\nimages of scuffles with the police on the streets. That\u2019s what ensures their\nlivelihood. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Except for that isolated minor incident, our opponents have no\nallegations of repression to make. Some argue that we treated the Colombo agitators\nand those who attended the funeral of the late Mr Thondaman  differently. Arumugam Thondam was the leader\nof the Up-country Tamil community. When we imposed curfew in the Nuwara Eliya\ndistrict to prevent large numbers of grief stricken people from attending the\nfuneral of their leader, the people of that area cooperated. Holding a\ndemonstration in Colombo in defience of a court order, over an incident that\nhad taken place in the USA which has no relevance to Sri Lanka, is an entirely\ndifferent thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The people should be vigilant about what is said by the\nyahapalana camp during this election campaign. When we decided to provide an\nallowance of Rs 5,000 to those who were unable to go to work as a result of the\ncurfew imposed to prevent the spread of Covid-19, the yahapalana presidential\ncandidate said Rs. 5,000 was not enough and that every family should be given Rs.\n65,000 per month. After somebody apparently told him not to make\nsuch foolish statements, this amount was brought down to Rs. 20,000. What did\nthese people who wanted us to give Rs. 65,000 to each family do when they were\nin power?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You will recall that after the presidential election and before the Covid-19\npandemic hit Sri Lanka, demonstrators used to turn up almost daily in front of\nthe presidential secretariat just as they did during the yahapalana government. Most   of\nthose demonstrators wanted the employment they had obtained from the yahapalana\ngovernment made permanent. Those demonstrators had come to the presidential secretariat not to find fault with us, but to curse the previous government.\nThose youthful demonstrators were caught on camera telling the yahapalana\nminister who had given them dud appointments not to come back to Hambantaota. We\nnow see that the yahapalana minister concerned has in fact\nabandoned\nHambantota and is now contesting from Colombo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The forthcoming parliamentary election will give the voting\npublic an opportunity to chose proven ability over yahapalana lies and\ndeception. In order to safeguard the progress made in controlling the spread of\nCovid-19, I request all candidates to be mindful of the election related guidelines issued\nby the health authorities and also to conduct an environmentally friendly and exemplary\nelection campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May the blessings of the Triple Gem be upon you, God Bless you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa MEDIA RELEASE (Translation of the text of a speech made by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa on Thursday, 18 June 2020) Venerable members of the Maha Sangha, clergymen of all other faiths, Hon. Ministers, former members of Parliament and friends,  After the Presidential election of 16 November 2019, we will be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[125,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mahinda-rajapaksa","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103681\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}