{"id":148169,"date":"2015-07-31T00:09:44","date_gmt":"2015-07-30T18:39:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=148169"},"modified":"2015-08-08T23:23:58","modified_gmt":"2015-08-08T17:53:58","slug":"ranil-to-set-foundation-for-violation-of-election-laws-election-commissioner-clueless","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ranil-to-set-foundation-for-violation-of-election-laws-election-commissioner-clueless\/","title":{"rendered":"Ranil To Set \u2018Foundation\u2019 For Violation Of Election Laws, Election Commissioner Clueless"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Prime Minister <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Ranil+Wickremesinghe&amp;x=9&amp;y=8\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Ranil Wickremesinghe<\/span><\/a> and Leader of the United National Party is set to openly avoid election good practices, Colombo Telegraph learns.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Ranil2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-112253\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Ranil2-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Opposition leader Ranil Wickramasinghe listens to journalists during a National Council coalition party news conference in Colombo\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Ranil2-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Ranil2-50x50.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a>The Prime Minister\u2019s office has issued a statement to the media requesting coverage for the ceremony to lay the foundation stone of the \u2018Central Expressway\u2019. The event, originally scheduled for August 1, 2015 is now planned for the 3rd of the month.<\/p>\n<p>When Colombo Telegraph asked Elections Commissioner <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Mahinda+Deshapriya&amp;x=9&amp;y=8\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Mahinda Deshapriya<\/span><\/a> if this constitutes a violation of election laws since the event is being held during an election and media coverage has been sought, Deshapriya said \u2018it could be propaganda that was not sanctioned\u2019 but said he wasn\u2019t sure.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018If some event had been planned before Parliament was dissolved, then it can be held but with minimal media exposure since it can have the effect of propaganda,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n<p>Colombo Telegraph learns that this foundation-stone laying ceremony has been hastily organized in that it was not planned before President Maithripala Sirisena dissolved Parliament.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe request for media coverage violates the moral obligation that Ranil Wickremesinghe has towards proper conduct given pledges made to the effect during Sirisena\u2019s election campaign,\u201d an activist associated with good governance advocacy told Colombo Telegraph.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Media-event-August-03st_-2015.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-148173\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Media-event-August-03st_-2015.jpg\" alt=\"Media event - August 03st_ 2015\" width=\"639\" height=\"903\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Media-event-August-03st_-2015.jpg 639w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Media-event-August-03st_-2015-212x300.jpg 212w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 639px) 100vw, 639px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":112253,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1,6969,6980,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-148169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-news","category-popular-stories","category-sri-lanka-parliamentary-elections-2015","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Ranil To Set \u2018Foundation\u2019 For Violation Of Election Laws, Election Commissioner Clueless - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ranil-to-set-foundation-for-violation-of-election-laws-election-commissioner-clueless\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ranil To Set \u2018Foundation\u2019 For Violation Of Election Laws, Election Commissioner Clueless - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ranil-to-set-foundation-for-violation-of-election-laws-election-commissioner-clueless\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-07-30T18:39:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-08-08T17:53:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Ranil2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"322\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ranil-to-set-foundation-for-violation-of-election-laws-election-commissioner-clueless\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ranil-to-set-foundation-for-violation-of-election-laws-election-commissioner-clueless\/\",\"name\":\"Ranil To Set \u2018Foundation\u2019 For Violation Of Election Laws, Election Commissioner Clueless - Colombo Telegraph\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ranil-to-set-foundation-for-violation-of-election-laws-election-commissioner-clueless\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ranil-to-set-foundation-for-violation-of-election-laws-election-commissioner-clueless\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Ranil2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-07-30T18:39:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-08-08T17:53:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ranil-to-set-foundation-for-violation-of-election-laws-election-commissioner-clueless\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ranil-to-set-foundation-for-violation-of-election-laws-election-commissioner-clueless\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ranil-to-set-foundation-for-violation-of-election-laws-election-commissioner-clueless\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Ranil2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Ranil2.jpg\",\"width\":\"322\",\"height\":\"500\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ranil-to-set-foundation-for-violation-of-election-laws-election-commissioner-clueless\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Ranil To Set \u2018Foundation\u2019 For Violation Of Election Laws, Election Commissioner Clueless\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\",\"name\":\"Colombo Telegraph\",\"description\":\"In journalism truth is a process\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\",\"name\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ranil To Set \u2018Foundation\u2019 For Violation Of Election Laws, Election Commissioner Clueless - Colombo Telegraph","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ranil-to-set-foundation-for-violation-of-election-laws-election-commissioner-clueless\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ranil To Set \u2018Foundation\u2019 For Violation Of Election Laws, Election Commissioner Clueless - Colombo Telegraph","og_description":"[&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ranil-to-set-foundation-for-violation-of-election-laws-election-commissioner-clueless\/","og_site_name":"Colombo Telegraph","article_published_time":"2015-07-30T18:39:44+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-08-08T17:53:58+00:00","og_image":[{"width":322,"height":500,"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Ranil2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ranil-to-set-foundation-for-violation-of-election-laws-election-commissioner-clueless\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ranil-to-set-foundation-for-violation-of-election-laws-election-commissioner-clueless\/","name":"Ranil To Set \u2018Foundation\u2019 For Violation Of Election Laws, Election Commissioner Clueless - Colombo Telegraph","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ranil-to-set-foundation-for-violation-of-election-laws-election-commissioner-clueless\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ranil-to-set-foundation-for-violation-of-election-laws-election-commissioner-clueless\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Ranil2.jpg","datePublished":"2015-07-30T18:39:44+00:00","dateModified":"2015-08-08T17:53:58+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ranil-to-set-foundation-for-violation-of-election-laws-election-commissioner-clueless\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ranil-to-set-foundation-for-violation-of-election-laws-election-commissioner-clueless\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ranil-to-set-foundation-for-violation-of-election-laws-election-commissioner-clueless\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Ranil2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Ranil2.jpg","width":"322","height":"500"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ranil-to-set-foundation-for-violation-of-election-laws-election-commissioner-clueless\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ranil To Set \u2018Foundation\u2019 For Violation Of Election Laws, Election Commissioner Clueless"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/","name":"Colombo Telegraph","description":"In journalism truth is a process","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3","name":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH"},"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Ranil2.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148169"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":148175,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148169\/revisions\/148175"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}