Contender unveiled 

United National Party (UNP) Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa being confirmed as the presidential candidate of the UNP after months of tensions marks a definitive moment in Sri Lanka’s journey to elect its next President. 

The decision made by the Working Committee came in the wake of last-minute negotiations between the Premadasa camp and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. Despite the optics that Wickremesinghe lost ground within the party as he had to cede his earlier wish to be the party’s presidential candidate due to pressure from within the party itself, the opposite is true. In the final agreement, Wickremesinghe’s authority and power over the UNP remains largely unchanged. He is still the leader of the UNP, its prime ministerial candidate and stands to benefit the most if the Executive Presidency is in fact abolished. Worst-case scenario, he still stands to be the Opposition Leader and fight another day. 

As per the policies released after Premadasa was unanimously selected as a presidential candidate, the UNP has decided to largely stick to the framework that it introduced at the previous presidential elections. Premadasa has agreed to carry forward a system that promotes democracy and, perhaps most importantly for the UNP’s presidential prospects, backs the maximum devolution possible. The latter policy is clearly aimed at enticing the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to support Premadasa, which is particularly important after the public spat that was sparked by the ill-timed Cabinet meeting to discuss the 20th Amendment last week.     

Premadasa is also likely to stick to the same liberalisation policies championed by the UNP for the economy. Yet here they are likely to promote the more insular Premadasa policies of government-led housing, support for the agriculture sector and public sector job creation during campaigning. 

Yet, as was pointed out by Prime Minister Wickremesinghe at an event on Wednesday, the slowdown of global growth, increased protectionism, dwindling investment coupled with Sri Lanka’s internal challenges of an aging population, need for stronger reforms and high debt will make the economic front a difficult prospect to tackle for the next President and Government. 

But at least for now there is clarity for the voter. For those who have reservations about the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa, there is now an option to consider. At least at first glance the UNP appears to have set aside their differences and united behind their candidate. Both UNP General Secretary Akila Viraj Kariyawasam and UNP Chairman Kabir Hashim, who until now have been in different camps, came before the media to outline their plans to build a broad coalition, contest under the swan symbol and launch a national campaign to entice discouraged UNP voters to the polls. 

Whatever the masses may feel about the respective candidates, in the interests of democracy it is essential that two frontrunner contenders are presented to battle it out for the post of President. A hobbled race would not have benefited the public and their right to have a choice. Whether these choices meet all the expectations of the public is unlikely but an imperfect choice is better than no choice at all. So it is now time for the public to listen closely to the plans and policies of the candidates and make their decision on 16 November.