The protest campaign staged by the combined opposition today against the government will be a rehearsal to a more virulent and forceful island wide public uprising to oust the corrupt and incompetent Ranil – Rajapakse regime, General Secretary of the SLFP, Dayasiri Jayasekara said yesterday.

If the government attempts to postpone the Local Government (LG) polls, a major public revolt would be unstoppable and would end up with unprecedented violence, he added.

Today’s protest is to display the contempt, anger and rejection of 22 million Sri Lankans on the government that brought the country to the current chaos. The widespread corruption, incompetency, attack on democracy, state terrorism waged on peaceful protests and suppression of media have contributed to brand Sri Lanka as a failed state before the global community, Mr. Jayasekara said.

Addressing the media at the party office last morning, Mr. Jayasekara went onto say that the proposal to appoint a select committee to go into electoral reforms by Justice Minister Wijedasa Rajapaksa was a delaying tactic to postpone LG polls.

“What happened to the Parliamentary select committee appointed in 2012 led by Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardana to propose electoral reforms? We urged the government to table Dinesh Gunawardana select committee recommendations and pass them with the support of all political parties in Parliament if the government has a genuine desire for reforms in the local government electoral process,,” he stressed.

Responding to Daily Mirror on the danger of constituting independent commissions afresh after following the passing of the 21st Amendment to the Constitution, Mr. Jayasekara said the government must take steps to introduce regulations and guidelines for the Constitutional Council (CC) before appointing members to the independent commissions.

The regulations and guidelines for the CC outline the criteria on how members should be appointed to the independent commissions, he emphasized. (Sandun A. Jayasekera)