PAFFREL Chief warns parties to pick clean candidates for LG elections

By Rathindra Kuruwita

Political parties had to field clean, dedicated and educated candidates at elections; otherwise, the voters will reject them, says Executive Director of People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) Rohana Hettiarachchi.

The PAFFREL Executive Director told The Island yesterday: “The upcoming LG elections will be a crucial election. In 2022, people experienced unprecednded hardships and they have realized that they had been taken for a ride for 74 years. People are angry with politicians, their actions, and attitudes. They are angry with political parties for following disastrous policies.”

Hettiarachchi said that if political parties failed to field good candidates at the coming election, the people would reject them.

“As the March 12 Movement we urge political parties to select good candidates. We also want the political parties to tell the people what criteria they used to elect the nominees. We will soon meet leaders of political parties and lobby them to nominate clean and dedicated people,” he said.

The Sri Lankan political system has given great powers to political parties and their leaders on choosing candidates, he said.

“In the Mixed-Member Proportional (MMP) electoral system under which local council elections are held, the political parties prepare both lists, i.e., those who contest elections and those who are appointed for the bonus seats. It’s their duty to select good candidates. Everyone knows what most people want. If a political party keeps on nominating crooks, people will have to forgo party loyalties and vote for a party that has fielded good candidates,” he said.