Democracy rhetoric or a Practice ?

Although exact dates for the presidential election has not yet been declared, it is clear that the enthusiasm and interest over the upcoming presidential run in the country is significantly increasing. The candidates of two major political camps have already been announced; they are the candidate of the SLPP lead alliance and the candidate of the JVP lead alliance. Another interesting fact is that discussions about the UNP candidate is also showing a tendency of growing into an internal crisis of the party.

Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has already commenced his campaign as the candidate nominated by SLPP and Sajith Premadasa has stated that he will contest the election even though he is not yet offered the official candidature from UNP.

Dr Charitha Herath

@charith9

Leaders of UNP party say that the UNP candidate will be announced only after the presidential election is declared and some say that Ranil Wickremesinghe will contest from their party.  According to some, Karu Jayasuriya's name has also been proposed as the UNP candidate. Whoever are the candidates for the upcoming presidential election, this round of presidential election will have certain unique aspects when compared to the past elections.  This specialty can be explained in relation to many aspects.

On one hand, this is the first presidential election since the 19th Amendment, hence the real impact of reduced powers from the executive body on the position could only be tested after this presidential election. 

Some argue that after the 19th amendment, president even cannot hold the portfolio of defense.  Some legal experts responding to this argument say that the presidential system is valid in the future in the same manner as president is still granted the powers by the constitution to appoint the permanent secretaries to the ministries and many other high-profile positions.   Others feel that the 19th Amendment will not have a serious impact if the Prime Minister and the President are appointed from the same camp. However, it is correct to acknowledge that a change in the portfolio of the executive president could be expected after the presidential election.

Presidential Race: Some Challengers

Gotabhaya Rajapaksa was officially nominated as the SLPP candidate for the upcoming presidential election last weekend. With this nomination, the entire discussion in the political landscape is completely focused on the upcoming presidential election. Though the UNP is yet to officially announce who it will be nominated as the candidate to contest in the presidential election, we see a situation where several party members are self-nominating themselves.

Gotabhaya's speech in accepting the official nomination proposes a new dimension in the country's political discourse. It is very important to note that his speech was only focused about policy matters and development goals that are expected to be delivered if he is elected as the president but not about the opponent or the shortcomings of the opposition political parties.

In the recent past all the political campaigns in our country have always focused on criticism on the opponents but not on what they are going to deliver to the country. The 2015 Presidential Election campaign is a classic example of this

What happened during that presidential election was to attack the Rajapaksa government with various political rhetoric and baseless allegations without developing a substantial policy debate in the campaign discourse. There is nothing wrong with saying that there was nothing new in 2015 presidential election campaign beyond the rhetorical criticism and mere name dropping such as good governance. The importance of Gotabhaya's speech could be more highlighted in that context.