The Executive Director of the Institute for Democratic Reforms and Electoral Studies (IRES) Manjula Gajanayake raised concerns about three candidates who have submitted nominations for the upcoming presidential election but remain unaccounted for.
Speaking during Ada Derana’s current affairs programme “Big Focus”, Gajanayake pointed out that 39 candidates have entered the presidential race, with one of them recently passing away. However, he also raised concern about no official replacement been named for the deceased candidate.
“I see a weakness in not naming an official replacement for the candidate who passed away,” Gajanayake stated. “If the process was organized, there would have been a replacement. There should be a ‘Plan A’ and a ‘Plan B’. The lack of transparency is dishonest.”
Meanwhile, he went on to highlight multiple issues among the remaining candidates as well. “Out of the 38 remaining candidates, only 15 have at least organized meetings. Of the 23 who haven’t, at least a meeting of 10 people has not taken place. I am very responsible in making this statement; only 15 candidates have organized at least a pocket meeting.”
“After calling the phone numbers provided to the Election Commission by them, we found that two of the contact numbers were incorrect, and one candidate just hung up”, Gajanayake added.
Additionally, the IRES Executive Director said: “Five of the 23 candidates don’t even have a Facebook account. At least three of the candidates have not made any public statements about their candidacy. Although they’ve signed nomination papers and deposited bonds, they have not introduced themselves as candidates anywhere.”
Furthermore, Gajanayake expressed displeasure that the efforts of relevant authorities to obtain at least the basic information of the aforesaid candidates have been hindered, highlighting that “We wanted to upload a passport-sized photograph of each candidate on our website, but for the said 24 of the 39 candidates, it has been impossible to even get a picture of them,” Gajanayake signed off.
