SRI LANKA: President Mahinda Rajapaksa and main opposition opponent General Sarath Fonseka launch Presidential election campaigns

Record ID: 346114

  • Title: SRI LANKA: President Mahinda Rajapaksa and main opposition opponent General Sarath Fonseka launch Presidential election campaigns
  • Date: 19th December 2009
  • Summary: MAIN OPPOSITION CANDIDATE GENERAL SARATH FONSEKA ARRIVING PEOPLE CHEERING LEADERS OF PARTIES ON STAGE
  • Embargoed: 3rd January 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Sri Lanka
  • Country: Sri Lanka
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAEYL04N8UHOCC7M5KB12B5AFKG
  • Story Text: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his main opponent General Sarath Fonseka launch their election campaigns for the January presidential poll from two historic cities.
    Official campaigning for Sri Lanka's presidential election started on Friday (December 18), with candidates pulling votes in different cities.
    The candidates for the Jan. 26 poll include incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his former army chief, Gen. Sarath Fonseka, who led the military to victory over Tamil rebels after a 25-year civil war.
    Rajapaksa launched his campaign from the ancient capital of Anuradhapua in north central Sri Lanka.
    "I am now taking the country towards development. I have to stop corruption. I will do that as well. I will start the war against corruption. I will win that war the same way I won the war against terrorism. Therefore trust me," he told a large crowd of supporters.
    Rajapaksa, who called the elections two years before his term expires as he tries to take credit for ending the way, is backed by the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA), which includes business groups and some minority parties.
    "When I say I will do something I will do that. If I say I am giving something I will give it. If I say I won't give I will not give. I said I will not give a separate state. I never gave it. I will not give it in the future either," Rajapaksa added.
    Successive governments have won national polls promising to end the war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), while blaming the conflict for any failure to implement economic and political reforms.
    Analysts expect Rajapaksa to try to woo voters with public-sector wage hikes and subsidies, but he will be constrained by the conditions attached to a $2.6-billion loan from the International Monetary Fund.
    "He has been the president for the last four years he has to talk about economic and development achievements. But I think primary emphasis though will be in regard to historic victory that he says he has won in terms of defeating terrorism," said Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, executive director at the Centre for Policy Alternatives.
    Fonseka launched his six week campaign from the religious city of Kandy in the central hills of the island.
    Fonseka has talked about ending corruption and abolishing the powerful executive presidency, while Rajapaksa in his campaign has focused on post-war peace and development, without giving any specific policies on how he would achieve that.
    "The General's arguments I think will largely be based on arguing against dynastic politics of the Rajapaksas in terms of a family bent on consolidating their hold on governmental power in this country, nepotism, corruption. Further more he would want to say he too played a deceive, vital role in defeating terrorism," Saravanamuttu said.
    Fonseka is supported by the two main opposition parties, the pro-business United National Party (UNP) and the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peremuna (JVP), whose economic policies are at oppositeof the spectrum.
    Both the UNP and JVP have said their main aim is to defeat Rajapaksa and then later to focus on other issues.
    "I who defeated 30 years of terrorism risking my life cannot be disturbed by mud-slinging by the president and his brothers. You should not be disheartened either. Lets go forward courageously. Lets see who will have mud at the end. Everybody will be able to see their nakedness after our victory," said Fonseka.
    Fonseka is campaigning on the platform of abolishing the powerful executive presidency and ending corruption and nepotism of the Rajapaksa regime.
    "After the victory on the 26th I will chase away these corrupt rulers and I will take action against their corruption," he added.
    About 14 million of the island nation's 21 million population are eligible to vote.
    Economists said Rajapaksa's past populist policies such the provision of subsidies, high government expenditure and bloated state jobs have created fiscal pressures.
    Successive Sri Lankan governments have delayed both economic and political reform, bowing to the pressure of coalition partners aiming to win elections. But the IMF loan comes with conditions aimed at curbing those kinds of pressures.
    Investor confidence in the $40-billion economy has surged, attracting foreign investment into government debt and both listed and unlisted companies due to investor hopes of a rapid economic recovery after the war.
    The economy, still struggling to recover from the financial crisis and the civil war, is expected to expand at an eight-year low of 3.5 percent this year, from 6 percent last year, the central bank said.
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