Upcoming General Election & The Muslims’ Dilemma
Dr. MYM Siddeek
300 nominations have been made for 6151 candidates to contest the upcoming surprisingly announced general election for electing/selecting/nominating 225 legislators to the Sri Lankan legislature. It means, less than 4% of the candidates contesting the election will go to the parliament. From the widely telecast President Maithripala Srisena’s (MS) speech on the 14th July, the people may conclude that the parliament was dissolved to avoid the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe (RW) being impeached and to avoid the possibility of the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa (MR), ardent enemy of the President MS, becoming the Prime Minister. If they are the only reasons, it can also be concluded that the parliament was dissolved not to honour the promise given to the people although it was about two months later than the date mentioned in the 100-day programme. As per the 100-day programme, the parliament should have been dissolved on the 23rd April 2015. It was obvious that there was a fierce internal battle going on between the President MS and his opponents in the parliament and within his parties (SLFP and UPFA) before the parliament was dissolved.
In this battle the Muslim parliamentarians did not have any say to influence the President to dissolve the parliament or to prevent such an event although it was claimed that the President MS was elected because of the minority votes in the last presidential election and in spite of the fact that the sudden announcement to dissolve the parliament can have far reaching impact on the political, social, religious, and economic lives of the minorities. It may also mean that these Muslim parliamentarians are taken for granted !