Mahinda Rajapaksa Should Gracefully Withdraw
By Laksiri Fernando -January 4, 2015
Dr. Laksiri Fernando
Mahinda Rajapaksa should withdraw, gracefully I must say, from the presidential race, not merely because he is losing, but because he has lost all credibility for contesting for a Third Term.
This election is an unwarranted one, an utter waste of money, energy and patience of the people. What was intended in the Constitution (1987) was for the incumbent to go for the full 6 years of the second-term, before he or she gracefully retires. But for some reason, Mahinda became so greedy and wanted a Third-Term and no term limit at all.
Who can say he is indispensable for the country?
Even the previous provisions in the Constitution were extravagant. Sri Lanka is the only country which has 6 years for one term. The norm is 4 years. In addition, JRJ opted to call for premature election after 4 years for the second term. He made provisions for it under the 3rd Amendment. MR already utilized that provision in 2005.
Then MR wanted a premature election for a Third Term as well. That is the whole debacle of this election. The abuse of power and the abuse of constitutional provisions. In effect, what he is asking is another marathon 8 years. If MS wins, his term is limited to 6 years. What a disparity or discrimination. MS has already said that the term of the Head of State should be 4 years.
MR is already 69 years of age. He has already completed 10 years. He is visibly work fatigue. If he goes for another term, that means 18 years. He could easily become a puppet of one of his brothers, most probably the military one. Anything can happen during that time. Sri Lankan voters should be fools to give a blank cheque to such a person under such circumstances.
We all know how he won the 2005 election with a slender margin. That was thanks to (Mr.) Prabhakaran’s boycott generosity. Not that MR was necessarily bad at that time. However, people probably wanted a change after experiencing a UPFA president since 1994. This was prevented by the Tamil voter boycott.
However, he did a good job in defeating terrorism and the LTTE. Also some development. People paid their gratitude by electing him by a big majority in 2010. Then he soon betrayed their trust. He said in his manifesto that he would be a Trustee. But he didn’t keep that trust of the trustee. He didn’t make any indication that he would go for another or a Third Term at that election. People assumed that it would be his last term.
