Extending term of President and P’ment is an option; Presidential Adviser

• Says many including the opposition and media have misunderstood what Range Bandara came out with

By Yohan Perera   

Whilst United National Party (UNP) General Secretary Palitha Range Bandara said he will explain his proposal of extending the terms of the President and Parliament on Monday, Presidential Adviser Ashu Marasinghe stressed that the former only talked of an available option to ensure the nation’s stability.  

These remarks are made despite criticism against the postponement of elections and assurances by both President and the Prime Minister that presidential elections would be held this year.

“Many including the opposition and media have misunderstood what Range Bandara came out with. He only talked of an available option to ensure stability and a bright future for the nation. It is possible to extend the term of President and Parliament. It can be done after seeking an interpretation from the judiciary,” Marasinghe told a briefing.   

“The country will go backwards by at least one year if an election is held. As everyone is aware, there is a pre-election period and a post-election period whenever a poll is held. No development or reform programmes can be implemented during this period. The debt restructuring and other reforms would take a back seat in such an eventuality. Therefore, the country will definitely go backward at least by a year if an election is held. Accordingly, the country has two options at this moment. That is to hold an election or postpone the polls. This is what UNP General Secretary was talking about. Many have got unnecessarily excited about his remark,” he added.   

“People have not taken to the streets calling for an election as they only want three meals a day and availability of essential goods at affordable prices,” he also said. At the same time Marasinghe said UNP is also readying for the presidential election that is to be held this year and reiterated that incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe will contest as an independent candidate.   

Also he slammed the election monitoring bodies who have objected to the programmes such as distributing rice and the ‘Urumaya’ land distribution project. “Election monitoring bodies cannot call for the stoppage of these programmes as no election is declared as of now,” he said in this regard. He said even state officers also have no right to comment on the development programmes. He said only the chairman of the Election Commission has that right.

Meanwhile UNP General Secretary earlier said he will explain on Monday his proposal of extending the terms of the President and Parliament by two years.