{"id":197524,"date":"2019-01-05T15:58:03","date_gmt":"2019-01-05T10:28:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=197524"},"modified":"2019-01-09T00:06:48","modified_gmt":"2019-01-08T18:36:48","slug":"appointments-of-governors-raise-serious-concerns-over-sirisenas-plans-for-elections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/appointments-of-governors-raise-serious-concerns-over-sirisenas-plans-for-elections\/","title":{"rendered":"Appointments Of Governors Raise Serious Concerns Over Sirisena’s Plans For Elections"},"content":{"rendered":"

The appointment of five new Governors<\/strong><\/a> have raised disturbing questions over\u00a0President Maithripala Sirisena\u2019s commitment to holding free and fair elections as all newly-appointed Governors have strong political involvements in the provinces to which they have been appointed.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Sirisena<\/p><\/div>\n

The tradition \u2013 the unwritten rule \u2013 is that the Governor is from outside the\u00a0province for which he is governor, especially when the appointee is an active\u00a0politician. This is to avoid problems in conducting free and fair elections with a\u00a0Governor wielding immense power to interfere and obstruct the work of the\u00a0Election Commission during elections.<\/p>\n

Two of the most glaringly offensive appointments involve those of M.L.A.M.\u00a0Hizbullah, National List MP from Katankudi and State Minister of Highways and\u00a0Road Development as Governor of Eastern Province, and that of Azath Salley, the\u00a0flamboyant former UPFA Deputy Mayor of Colombo.<\/p>\n

Hisbullah has resigned his MP and Deputy Minister posts effective 4 Jan, 2019, to\u00a0be free to take up his new appointment as the Governor of Eastern Province\u00a0where he has vested electoral interests. Salley, active in Colombo\u2019s Municipal\u00a0politics, is also in a position to interfere in elections within the Western Province.<\/p>\n

Even the appointments of Sarath Ekanayake as Governor of North Central\u00a0Province is questionable given that he was active as the Chief Minister of the\u00a0neighbouring Central Province. Likewise, Peshala Jayarathna Bandara as Governor of North Western Province will wield influence in the North Central Province where he was Chief Minister.<\/p>\n

It remains unclear as to how the Elections Commission will handle the elections that are due this year and the next with partisan Governors in charge of provinces where they are politically active.<\/p>\n

“After showing a total lack of commitment to democracy, fairness and good\u00a0governance, and to the Constitution since 26 October 2018. We naturally wonder\u00a0what tricks President Maithripala Sirisena is up to now in making these\u00a0appointments and what other tricks are in his bag for the remaining four\u00a0Governorships?” an informed political source questioned, raising concerns over the President’s objectives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":195241,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2186,1,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-197524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-featured-news","category-news","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"\nAppointments Of Governors Raise Serious Concerns Over Sirisena's Plans For Elections - 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\/appointments-of-governors-raise-serious-concerns-over-sirisenas-plans-for-elections\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Appointments Of Governors Raise Serious Concerns Over Sirisena's Plans For Elections - 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