Vote on Economic Transformation Bill acid test for SLPP group – Prof. Peiris

By Shamindra Ferdinando

The Opposition has questioned President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s recently concluded visit to the Northern Province, where he declared open a new hospital and university facilities, etc., as part of his Presidential Poll campaign.

Prof. G. L. Peiris raised the latest alleged violation at his regular media briefing at his Kirula Avenue residence on Monday (27). The former External Affairs Minister pointed out that the President, in line with his overall campaign, took advantage of the opening of foreign funded projects.

The dissident SLPP MP accused the President of taking advantage of the foreign funded projects and also campaigning at the public expense. The former Minister was referring to the inauguration of two hospitals built with funds provided by the Netherlands.

MP Peiris alleged that the distribution of free rice, awarding of free land ownership in terms of the Urumaya programme, granting of proprietorship of over 50,000 housing units and opening of hospital and university facilities were meant to win votes at the forthcoming Presidential Poll.

Prof. Peiris said that the people couldn’t be deceived by such a propaganda campaign. The former Minister recently switched his allegiance to the main Opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) along with several of his colleagues in July 2022 over the SLPP’s decision to elect Ranil Wickremesinghe as the President.

Declaring that Wickremesinghe’s job was to complete the remainder of Gotabaya Rajapaksas’s five-year term, Prof. Peiris took exception to a proposal to conduct a referendum meant to extend Wickremesinghe’s term instead of conducting the scheduled Presidential Poll by Sept/Oct this year, as per the Constitution.

The academic emphasized that constitutionally a Presidential Poll couldn’t be substituted by a referendum under any circumstances. Prof. Peiris challenged efforts to compare the proposed referendum on the next Presidential Poll and President J.R. Jayewardene extending the life of Parliament by a period of six years in 1982, through a rigged referendum.

Prof. Peiris said that JRJ didn’t run away from the Presidential Poll. The first President called for a referendum – the only national referendum held so far in the country after winning the 1982 Presidential Poll. That allowed JRJ to put off the Parliamentary Poll that was to be held by August 1983 to Feb 1989.

Having been appointed President by Parliament in July 2022, Wickremesinghe shouldn’t contemplate extending his disputed term by way of a referendum, the ex-Minister said, alleging that the UNP leader feared facing the electorate.

Commenting on the SLPP’s proposal to conduct the Parliamentary Poll ahead of the presidential election, Prof. Peiris said that if the President so desired he could dissolve Parliament immediately and the election could be held within 52 days, or in seven and a half weeks. The former law professor said that the President is constitutionally empowered to dissolve Parliament after the Parliament completed two and half years of its five-year term.

However, in case the President hadn’t been willing to dissolve Parliament, those who desired so could submit a resolution to Parliament to that effect, Prof. Peiris said. But, the Parliamentary Poll couldn’t be conducted in a way that affected the Presidential Poll, he said, urging the Wickremesinghe-Rajapaksa government to reach consensus on this contentious matter without further delay.

Prof. Peiris dismissed suggestions that the much delayed Local Government poll should be held instead of the Presidential Poll. Blaming President Wickremesinghe for indefinitely putting off LG polls that should have been held in March last year, Prof. Peiris stressed that the Presidential Poll couldn’t be delayed on the promise of LG poll.

Referring to funds required for the elections, Prof. Peiris said that Rs. 10 bn had been allocated through the last Budget to conduct the Presidential Poll. In case the President on his own, or under pressure from the SLPP, decided to advance the Parliamentary Poll, Rs 11 bn should be allocated in terms of the relevant constitutional provision.

Prof. Peiris said that the Presidential and Parliamentary Polls couldn’t be conducted simultaneously, though some said so. Responding to such suggestions the Election Commission has pointed out the difficulty in simultaneously conducting two national polls, the retired top law academic said.

The former Minister backed SLPP leader Mahinda Rajapaksa’s recent call for the suspension of the ongoing controversial privatization and restructuring programme pending the conclusion of the Presidential Poll.

Recalling how he campaigned with the SLPP in the run-up to the 2019 Presidential and 2020 Parliamentary Polls assuring the public that state assets wouldn’t be privatized, Prof. Peiris alleged that President Wickremesinghe was on a privatization spree.

Declaring that 6.9 mn people voted for the SLPP at the Presidential Polls and the party won 145 seats at the last Parliamentary Poll, Prof. Peiris emphasized that it would be the responsibility of the SLPP parliamentary group to uphold the mandates received at those national polls.

“We believe the parliamentary group would abide by the SLPP Chairman’s position on privatization and restructuring,” Prof. Peiris said. The SLPP parliamentary group would face an acid test when the Parliament voted on the highly debatable Economic Transformation Bill next week.

Prof. Peiris said that the moves to fully privatize cash cows – Sri Lanka Insurance and Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) – couldn’t be justified. Alleging that privatization of the SLT would compromise national security, he said that the SLPP couldn’t absolve itself of the responsibility for President Wickremesinghe’s actions.

Responding to SJB Chairman Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka’s criticism of the party accepting ‘outsiders’ at the expense of their original ideals, Prof. Peiris said that the leadership was selective in accepting those willing to join the main Opposition.

The Field Marshal’s criticism has been primarily over the SJB accommodating former Army Commander General Daya Ratnayake to the fold. Prof Peiris said that there had been cases of some of those interested in joining the SJB being rejected.

Defending SJB and Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa’s projects, Prof. Peiris said that they couldn’t be compared with the President’s as the latter campaigned on taxpayers’ money and timed the opening of foreign funded projects for his benefit.