By Rathindra Kuruwita

There will be at least 70 presidential candidates for the 2029 election, if immediate action is not taken against inactive presidential candidates, Executive Director of the Institute for Democratic Reforms and Electoral Studies (IRES), Manjula Gajanayake said yesterday.

“I think once the election is over, the Elections Commission must convene all 38 candidates, with the participation of election monitors and media. If the Elections Commission does not do something about it, there will be over 70 candidates next time. We need to understand why these people are trying to be presidential candidates,” he said.

The Executive Director of IRES said that the use of posters have drastically reduced and often posters are used to announce political rallies.

“Political parties have also not established political offices in unauthorized places. There is respect for the guidelines of the Elections Commission,” he said.

However, there has been no reduction in election-related propaganda carried out by the government through the misuse of state resources, Gajanayake said.

He added that election laws are in effect following the announcement by the Elections Commission that the presidential election will be held on 21 September. Thus, the government should no longer use state resources to promote Ranil Wickremesinghe.

“Despite this, the government has intensified its election campaign by continuing to use state resources. Not only are goods being distributed locally, but a significant amount of money is also being invested in social media propaganda.”

Gajanayake said provincial governors, Cabinet and non-Cabinet ministers and Ministry secretaries, the President’s Media Division and the President’s Secretary are ensuring that there is no level playing field among candidates.

Out of the 38 presidential hopefuls, only 15 have started their campaign by 28 August,

“The others have not even held a small pocket meeting. Three candidates out of the remaining 23, are missing. When we dial the numbers those three had given to the Elections Commission, one person has disconnected the number while the other two are wrong numbers,” he said.

Gajanayake added that five candidates do not even have a Facebook account.

“IRES have attempted to find mugshots of the candidates to upload on their website. Apart from the 15 candidates, we can’t even find photos of the other 24. When we have tried reaching out for them for photos, they have been very unresponsive,” he said.Gajanayake said the two state owned TV stations have given each candidate two slots of 15 minutes and IRES is monitoring whether all inactive candidates would take advantage of this opportunity.