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UNP, SLFP members and 36 oppositionparties and groups sign MoU to scrap Executive Presidency

I pledge to protect the trust the people have placed in me. I promise to fulfill this commitment – Maithirpala

Time to end the Rajapaksa journey: Ranil

‘Will not be spectators after election - will agitate until promises are kept’: Sobitha Thero tells Common Candidate

‘Maithripala is a man with political vision’: CBK

By Dharisha Bastians Common Candidate Maithripala Sirisena yesterday formally pledged to abolish the executive presidential system by signing a Memorandum of Understanding with major opposition parties across the ideological spectrum to lock in their support for his election bid. ‘The Common People’s Agenda for Just, Democratic and People-friendly Governance’ was signed by Sirisena and the common opposition movement led by the United National Party at a colourful event held at the Viharamahadevi Open Air theatre in Colombo last morning. “I pledge to protect the trust the people have placed in me. I promise to fulfill this commitment,” Sirisena said, after he placed his signature on the document.

Fundamental aspects of the agreement include constitutional reform within a 100-day period following Sirisena’s election, which will end the executive presidential system and replace it with a parliamentary model of governance. The parties have also pledged to repeal the 18th Amendment and restore independent commissions to depoliticise and oversee elections, police, judicial services and the public service in the country. Kotte Naga Vihara Chief Incumbent Maduluwawe Sobitha Thero, under whose patronage the MoU was signed, said the Opposition movement was calling on Sirisena to “open the door to democracy.” “This time we will not be mere spectators in this process. We are not supporting your candidacy to simply stand aside and watch a drama unfold. We will continue this agitation until all these pledges are fulfilled and this system is abolished,” Sobitha Thero charged. The moderate scholar monk is largely credited with mobilising a large movement of academics, trade unionists, artists and dissident groups to agitate against the executive presidential system and finally getting major political parties onboard. Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe who was the first to place his signature on the document said the time had come to end what he called the “Rajapaksa journey”.

Crucial JHU announcement today President Mahinda Rajapaksa will lose the support of a key constituent member of his ruling alliance, when the nationalist Jathika Hela Urumaya extends its support to his main opposition challenger, Maithiripala Sirisena today. The JHU signed a memorandum of understanding with Sirisena yesterday, highly placed sources told Daily FT, but the party will only make its stand public at a press briefing in Colombo today. It was not immediately clear if the MoU was the same document signed by 36 opposition parties led by the UNP and the common candidate at Viharamahadevi Park yesterday. The party did not attend the signing ceremony at the park yesterday. Two weeks ago, the JHU, which has been a member of the ruling alliance since 2005, quit their Cabinet portfolios and all other positions in the Government. The party has been scathingly critical of Government corruption and has vowed to defeat President Rajapaksa at the presidential election, after he refused to undertake major constitutional reforms to prune presidential powers ahead of declaring the poll. The right wing party has three MPs elected on the UPFA ticket. (DB)

“That is the very first step. Another term for President Rajapaksa will mean the end of democracy, the end of the multi-party system,” he said. The Government installed after opposition victory in the presidential poll in January would not only usher in constitutional change, but also bring about a social revolution.

“We will create a new society, one without poverty and unemployment,” Wickremesinghe pledged. Former President Kumaratunga, who received a huge cheer from the crowd as she rose to speak, strongly criticised the ruling administration as being one of the most “brutal” Sri Lanka had ever experienced. “We have tolerated this regime for nine years because tolerance is the Buddhist way. But enough is enough,” she charged. Kumaratunga also provided a character certificate to her former minister and party General Secretary, saying he was a man with “vision”. “I have worked with him for many years. Before that he has worked with my mother and my brother Anura. This man is no thief or murderer. He is a man with vision and a political philosophy,” she said. Kumaratunga defended her own record and said she had made valiant efforts and made ‘life sacrifices’ to reform Sri Lanka’s Constitution to ensure greater devolution for minority communities and the scrapping of the presidential system. “I just never managed to get numbers in Parliament to pass the draft Constitution. We needed 2/3 majority,” she explained. The former SLFP chairman urged her party-men to join the Opposition cause. “This is not just a battle to save the country; it is also a battle to save the SLFP. This was once a party that created great leaders,” she appealed. Former Army Chief Sarath Fonseka said he had been very happy when Maithripala Sirisena had been named the common opposition candidate. “I have faith in him,” the former General said, adding that he had first met Sirisena when he was Maheweli Minister in 1996. Under the theme ‘Ekwemu’ or ‘Let’s Unite’, the United National Party Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, former President Chandrika Kumaratunga, former Army Chief Sarath Fonseka and his Democratic Party and Maduluwawe Sobitha Thero placed their signatures to the MoU. The agreement was inked by 36 Opposition parties and groups, including Mano Ganeshan’s Democratic People’s Front and Azath Sally’s Muslim Tamil National Alliance and the alternative groups of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party and Communist Party - whose mainstream groups remain members of the ruling UPFA coalition. The Free Media Movement, the Federation of University Teachers Association (FUTA), the National Front for Good Governance and other civil society groups also signed the MoU yesterday.