SLPP defends national list candidates

Central Bank former Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal and SLPP member Dr. Charitha Herath 

• Says they are picked from different sectors to provide right balance of expertise 
• Dr. Herath describes P’ment election as ‘second innings’ in effort to establish political change 
• Cabraal defends Govt. track record on economy, says former administration was terrible    

The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) yesterday referred to the Parliamentary Election as the “second innings” in their effort to form a stable Government capable of constitutional amendments as well as delivering on development and defended the national list of the party as being well-rounded to achieve these goals. 

SLPP member Dr. Charitha Herath, who is also part of the national list, rejected criticism that its members included questionable and politically partisan professionals and insisted that competent people from a wide range of fields had been selected to ensure that the country benefits from their expertise. 

“The Parliamentary Election is the second innings in the effort that was begun last year. We completed the first innings well ensuring the election of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and now the time has come to focus on the second innings. This is crucial because we must now broaden the change that we have created to include the Legislature as well,” he told reporters. 

Dr. Herath reiterated that the main result needed by the SLPP was a two-thirds majority to ensure that the Government gains the ability to make constitutional changes. He echoed sentiments voiced by other senior party members in dismissing the Constitution due to the number of times it has been amended, and emphasised that both the 13th Amendment and the 19th Amendment needed to be removed to provide clarity to the balance of power within the State. 

He also pointed out that only in 1989 and 2010 was it possible to establish parliaments where there were two-thirds majority given to one party. Dr. Herath noted that they had preliminary poll numbers that indicated the SLPP has the potential to create a record for the third time in the country’s history. 

Fellow national list candidate and former Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal supported Dr. Herath’s views and rejected accusations that the economy was being badly handled by the present Government. He heavily criticised the former administration for failing to improve economic growth and reduce debt. He recalled that from 2010 to 2014 the Government at the time had maintained a growth rate of about 6% but that had declined to just 2.3% by 2019. 

“Interest rates are an important part of debt management. However, we can see that from the time we handed over the Government interest payments on Sri Lanka’s debt steadily increased, this is largely due to the mismanagement of the former Government and irresponsible actions such as the Central Bank bond scam that pushed up interest rates. 

“In 2014 our Government only paid Rs. 436 billion in interest payments but this had risen to Rs. 736 billion by 2017. That alone shows how badly the economy was run and the former Prime Minister cannot say otherwise now,” he said.