Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said the government of good governance was able to ensure the freedom and the democracy in the country and the government has very well secured the freedom for the people to express their views.
The Premier expressed these views addressing the final rally of the United National Party election campaign held in Matara on Wednesday to ensure the victory of the UNP candidates at the upcoming local government election on the 10th.
The Prime Minister said this election is a very peaceful one and no one killed each other. “There are no preferential votes. All candidates visited you at home and talked to you. It was only the UNP who could do this. The reason was after the party came into the government, we took over this responsibility.”
The Premier noted that the nether the state media nor public funds were used for this election. It is because an Independent election commission was created and the election is being conducted independently. “By establishing the Election Commission we have ensured that elections will always be free and fair,” he noted.
“There is an independent judiciary in this country to further strengthen the independence of the Election Commission. The independent judges issue verdicts against the government as well. But no judge has been removed, and no one has blamed the Chief Justice,” the Premier said adding that all verdicts were accepted as part of free society.
“Today the right for everyone to live in freedom has been created. Today there is complete media freedom. Anything can be published,” he said.
The Premier said the private media does not support the government but they criticize it and find fault. But they have the freedom to do so, he pointed out.
“For the nation to move forward, the people should have freedom, while the nation should have a strong and stable economy. Today, the people have the freedom even to criticize the government,” he said.
The Premier requested the people to vote for the United National Party on February 10th to empower the government to strengthen the country’s economy and speedup development.
Minsters Mangala Samaraweera, Malik Samarawickrema, MP Buddhika Pathirana, Members of the Southern Provincial Council and United National Party Local Government candidates were present.
