12 October 2024 12:00 am Views - 176
By Leenah Wahab
A project aimed at informing the public about candidates contesting for the upcoming elections was launched yesterday through a coalition of NGO’s and election watchdog organisations.
The March 12 Movement, People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) together with Helakuru institute signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the inauguration of an online- based voter education programme titled ‘Know Your Candidates,’ intended to provide people with direct access to information on parliamentary nominees, including their qualifications, solutions to current issues and respective parties.
Chief Executive Officer of Helakuru Dhanika Perera stated that the younger generation live in a digital age, which enables political discourse through communication. Executive Director of PAFFREL, Mr. Rohana Hettiarachchi further said that it is the country’s responsibility to choose 225 of the 500 candidates. “For more than 70 years, the Parliament has failed. The people should have a good understanding to access their suitability to pave the way for clean politics,” he said.
Head of Programmes at Hashtag Generation Saritha Irugalbandara noted that since the Aragalaya protests in 2022, public demand for accountability and transparency over the calibre of public representatives and civic consciousness has increased. Irugalbandara said that the collaboration with Helakuru is pivotal in connecting information with voters, who are now more interested than ever in making informed decisions. “We spoke a lot about why it’s important for political parties to nominate candidates who fulfil the basic eight criteria that make them qualified to actually be public representatives. So this, this platform will actually elucidate those criteria and also let voters actually make informed choices instead of guesswork when it comes to electing public representatives,” she said.
Mr. Hettiarachchi explained that the candidates would reach out via email and that the members of the MoU will verify all relevant information before publication. “In terms of digital solutions, I think it’s very popular to suggest digitalisation as a solution to anything and everything in Sri Lanka,” Irugalbandara said. “But this particularly is also a fantastic example of how you actually utilise digital solutions for purpose-driven advocacy, particularly when it comes to enhancing transparency around political candidacy.”