{"id":69117,"date":"2017-08-21T14:39:18","date_gmt":"2017-08-21T21:39:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=69117"},"modified":"2017-08-21T14:39:18","modified_gmt":"2017-08-21T21:39:18","slug":"hobsons-choice-for-voters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2017\/08\/21\/hobsons-choice-for-voters\/","title":{"rendered":"Hobson\u2019s choice for voters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editorial\u00a0Courtesy The Island<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

August 21, 2017, 8:23 pm<\/span>
\nSpecial Assignments Minister Dr. Sarath Amunugama has recently urged the public to vote wisely and elect only educated, competent, honest candidates in the fray. His advice should be heeded and his keenness to cleanse politics appreciated. It is incumbent upon voters to exercise their franchise responsibly. There have been instances where anti-social elements such as drug dealers, cattle rustlers, fraudsters and rapists were elected. A notorious drug baron known as Kudu Lal was once elected to the Colombo Municipal Council. Thankfully, he had to flee the country.<\/p>\n

However, the blame for the heavy presence of undesirables in the garb of people\u2019s representatives in political institutions cannot be laid entirely on the public. Even the people who vote wisely are compelled to pick the best out of a bad lot for want of a better alternative. It is a case of Hobson\u2019s choice for the voting public.<\/p>\n

Political parties are, therefore, duty bound to nominate only clean candidates. Their holier-than-thou leaders should instruct their nomination boards to select educated, competent, honest candidates. The absence of a proper sifting mechanism has adversely affected not only politics but also the country\u2019s cricket. If gentlemen contest elections then there will be gentlemanly politics. Similarly, gentlemen must be handpicked to play and administer cricket. Political leaders and their parties cannot absolve themselves of the blame for having turned politics into a stinking mess.<\/p>\n

People voted wisely at the last general election in 2015\u2013\u2013for once. They denied a working majority to both main parties and sought to relegate some candidates to the political dustbin. Their message was loud and clear. But, rejecting bad candidates at elections has become an exercise in futility under the yahapalana government. For, President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and leaders of other parties like the JVP shamelessly appoint political rejects to parliament via the National List. This, they do while claiming to uphold democratic principles and moral values.<\/p>\n

The present parliament is full of defeated candidates brought in through the backdoor and even appointed to the Cabinet. The National List mechanism, which was introduced to enable eminent citizens who are averse to the hustings to enter parliament has now become a sewer of sorts carrying political flotsam and jetsam.<\/p>\n

The yahapalana leaders have, through such despicable appointments, brutally subverted the will of the people and made a mockery of their much avowed commitment to good governance. On their watch, democracy has already suffered a double whammy. People have been deprived of their franchise and local government institutions dissolved and placed under bureaucrats; candidates rejected by the voting public have been brought into parliament.<\/p>\n

Today, failures have become the pillars of the SLFP in that most of its ministers are failed politicians turned National List MPs. Their only qualification to hold ministerial positions is their remarkable ability to switch their allegiance and lick their new bosses\u2019 sandals.<\/p>\n

Yahapalana politicians ought to hold elections without trotting out lame excuses before urging people to vote wisely. Canines afflicted with hydrophobia fear water. They are usually put down as they are a danger to others. Politicians suffering from polls phobia are scared of elections. They are a threat to democracy. They must be kicked out of power. Those who try to roll back the electoral map won\u2019t baulk at anything to perpetuate their hold on power.<\/p>\n

Let the current political leaders be urged to act wisely and responsibly when they nominate candidate to contest future elections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editorial\u00a0Courtesy The Island August 21, 2017, 8:23 pm Special Assignments Minister Dr. Sarath Amunugama has recently urged the public to vote wisely and elect only educated, competent, honest candidates in the fray. His advice should be heeded and his keenness to cleanse politics appreciated. It is incumbent upon voters to exercise their franchise responsibly. There […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69117","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=69117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69117\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}