2015 Presidential Elections Heats Up 22-12-14 Presidential elections will be held in Sri Lanka on 8 January 2015, two years ahead of schedule. The incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa is the United People's Freedom Alliance's candidate and is seeking a third term in office. The United National Party (UNP)-led opposition coalition have chosen to field Maithripala Sirisena, the Minister of Health in Rajapaksa's government and general secretary of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) - the main constituent party of the UPFA - as the common candidate. According to the constitution, the normal term of office for a president is six years, although an incumbent may call an election at any time after four years in office. In November 2009, buoyed by the government's defeat of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in May 2009, incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa called an early presidential election.[8] In the elections held in January 2010 Rajapaksa secured a second term in office, defeating common opposition candidate Sarath Fonseka. In February 2010 the Supreme Court ruled that Rajapaksa's second term would begin in November 2010, and was accordingly sworn in on 19 November 2010. In September 2010 Parliament, which was controlled by Rajapaksa's UPFA, passed the eighteenth amendment to the constitution, removing the two term limit on presidents, allowing Rajapaksa to run for a third term. There was speculation in mid-2014 that Rajapaksa would call another early presidential election: on 20 October 2014 Minister of Mass Media and Information Keheliya Rambukwella confirmed that the election would be held in January 2015. Critics of Rajapaksa, including the Bar Association and former Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva, claimed that he could not stand for re-election as he had won his second term before the eighteenth amendment to the constitution had been passed. In early November 2014 Rajapaksa sought the Supreme Court's opinion on whether he could stand for re-election.[20][21] The court ruled that Rajapaksa could stand for re-election. The independence of the Supreme Court has been questioned since the UPFA impeached former Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake, allowing Rajapaksa to appoint an ally and legal adviser, former Attorney General Mohan Peiris, as Chief Justice. On 20 November 2014 Rajapaksa issued a proclamation calling for a presidential election at which he would seek re-election. The following day election commissioner Mahinda Desapriya announced that nominations would be taken on 8 December 2014 and that the election would be held on 8 January 2015.[30][31] If Rajapaksa is re-elected, his third term will begin on 19 November 2015; if not, the winning candidate will take office immediately. 15,044,490 Sri Lankans will be eligible to vote at the election.Postal voting will take place on 23 and 24 December 2014. Foreign monitors are to be invited to observe the election but not from the United Nations. The Sri Lankan president is elected using a form of instant-runoff voting. Voters can rank up to three candidates, and if no candidate wins a majority in the first round of voting, second and third preferences from ballots whose first preference candidate has been eliminated are used to determine the winner. Mahinda Rajapaksa The incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa will contest as the UPFA candidate, seeking an unprecedented third term. He has also received the backing of a number of small constituent parties of the UPFA including the Ceylon Workers' Congress, Communist Party, Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP), National Freedom Front,[46] National Union of Workers and the Up-Country People's Front.[48] On nomination day, 8 December 2014, two opposition MPs, Tissa Attanayake and Jayantha Ketagoda, defected to the government to support Rajapaksa. Attanayake was later appointed Minister of Health - the post previously held by Sirisena. Maithripala Sirisena In the run up to the election being called several names had been suggested for nomination as the common opposition candidate: former president Chandrika Kumaratunga, UNP leader Ranil Wickremasinghe, UNP Leadership Council Chairman Karu Jayasuriya, former Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake and leader of the National Movement for Social Justice Maduluwawe Sobitha Thero.[57][58] However, on 21 November 2014, after the election had been called, Maithripala Sirisena, was revealed as the common opposition candidate by the UNP. Sirisena had been Minister of Health in Rajapaksa's government and general secretary of the SLFP before defecting to the opposition coalition.[61][62] Sirisena immediately received the support of former president Chandrika Kumaratunga and several UPFA MPs that had defected alongside him (Duminda Dissanayake, M. K. D. S. Gunawardena, Wasantha Senanayake, Rajitha Senaratne, Rajiva Wijesinha).

• published: 22 Dec 2014
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