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UNP parliamentarian Vajira Abeywardene is no stranger to controversy. In this interview, he speaks to C. A. Chandraprema about the UNP’s plan to field a common candidate at the presidential elections, the newly formed UNP-led political alliance and allied matters.
Q. Who will be the UNP’s choice of candidate at the presidential election?
A. We will be able to make a clear decision on this matter only after a presidential election is declared.
Q. That’s basically the same answer we got from Mr. Mangala Samaraweera as well. But he’s an outsider. Those of you within the UNP, have to address yourselves to the question whether you aren’t cutting things too fine. You plan only for the short term. There are no medium or long term plans. To us, you seem to be living by the day.
A. Sometimes in politics, decisions may have to be taken by the day or even by the hour. I believe this is such a period of time.
Q. The reason for this is obviously the immense popularity of the government and the corresponding weakness of the Opposition. You seem to be running in circles to avoid another crushing defeat, don’t you?
A. No. The first thing to take note of is that there’s still two years more for a presidential election. The only elections that are due within the next few months are the parliamentary elections and the local government elections. Which election will be held first, depends entirely on the decision made by the president.
Q. On what grounds do you think the executive president will try to avoid a contest? When General Fonseka wanted to be relieved of his duties in order to contest elections, the president could easily have used the powers vested in him by the Chief of Defence Staff Act No: 35 of 2009, and refused to release Fonseka until the expiry of his term of office, but he released the general without a second thought – something that no president anywhere in the world would have done. He does not seem to be trying to avoid anything. What would you say to this?
A. I don’t think it would be wise to reveal our hand until a presidential election is formally declared.
Q. In 1993, a decision was made very early on by the UNP, that it was president D. B. Wijetunga who would be the UNP’s candidate at the presidential elections due in 1994. Why is the UNP now running round in circles, without openly declaring its hand? Is it because the party thinks Ranil Wickremesinghe is not an attractive leader?
A. There is no such thing. Ranil Wickremesinghe is the leader of our party and he is the leader who will resurrect the economy and re-introduce democracy into this country. The government has been using the state owned media to the maximum to attack him. Wickremesinghe however has faced all this fearlessly and is unshakable. The only person who can rebuild this country, is Ranil Wickremesinghe. This is a fact well recognized by the professionals and the intelligentsia of this country. As the party leader, Ranil Wickremesinghe is prepared to accept the responsibility of running the country at any time. We can’t really accept the contention that he lacks popularity. If we look at the results of the past presidential elections, in 1982, president J. R. Jayewardene got 34 lakhs of votes. In 1988, president Premadasa got 25 lakhs. In 1994, Mrs Srima Dissanayake the widow of Gamini Dissanayake got 27 lakhs. But in 1999, Ranil Wickremesinghe got 36 lakhs. In 2005, Ranil got 47 lakhs of votes. His opponent Mahinda Rajapakse got 48 lakhs. The only opposition political leader whose personal popularity has been tested and proven is Ranil Wickremesinghe.
Q. As you quite rightly point out, Mahinda got 48 lakhs and Ranil got a very close 47 lakhs and these are proven facts. Since this is the case, why are you trying to give the presidential candidacy to someone else?
A. As I said, there is no decision as yet. We will announce the decision once a presidential election has been declared.
Q. You say no decision has been made as yet. But General Fonseka has already told the president that he is going to resign to contest the presidential elections and he has resigned from his position. Surely he would have had some kind of assurance to do all that?
A. There is no such thing as of now. He has said that he will be announcing his future plans to the country within 48 hours. After he does so, that should be taken into consideration by all political parties.
Q. Are we to assume that all this has happened without any coordination between the two sides?
A. I don’t wish to answer that question.
Q. The most important clause in the agreement that was signed by the UNP and the other parties in the UNF is the abolition of the executive presidency within a period of six months. As you pointed out with facts and figures, Ranil Wickremesighe missed being president only by a hair’s breadth. You have all along been an ardent defender of the executive presidential system. Have you now changed your position?
A. I have heard our political opponents saying that the entire country was plunged into confusion by the presidential system introduced by J. R. Jayewardene. Yet, in the very next breath they say that it was the presidency that enabled them to prosecute the war successfully. I have all along held in a positive light the presidential system introduced by J. R. Jayewardene. I have not changed my position.
Q. People say that the UNP has declared in favour of abolishing the executive presidency because Ranil Wickremesinghe will never be able to win a presidential election.
A. It’s not the UNP that is calling for the abolition of the executive presidency. We are now on a journey together with other members of an alliance. So, I do not agree with the view that the abolition of the executive presidency is being called for because Ranil Wickremesinghe can’t win. I, too, have always held that some adjustments in the powers of that position should be made by making the president responsible to parliament not just in words, but in practice as well.
Q. But this is number one in the UNF agenda.
A. Well, let’s wait and see.
Q. Given the fact that the abolition of the executive presidency has taken centre stage, do you think it’s strategically advisable not to field a UNP presidential candidate and to allow a complete outsider to contest as the common candidate of the opposition? Will this not be a case of the UNP abdicating their responsibility as the main opposition party?
A. I don’t want to answer that question at this point of time. In the first place, a presidential election has not yet been declared.
Q. By saying that, you are introducing an element of uncertainty into the political system. No decision will be made until the last moment. So won’t the General be the common candidate?
A. This is still under discussion.
Q. Let us assume for a moment that the common candidate is in fact General Fonseka. He has already given up a prestigious position, vehicles, official residences, and security fit for a president, in order to enter politics. If an individual who has sacrificed so much does get elected, will he be inclined to give up the powers of the presidency in six months? Isn’t it foolish to even expect him to do such a thing?
A. I do not want to answer that question.
Q. One writer to a newspaper had posed the question whether the UNP would end up with egg on its face the way they did at the Colombo Municipal Council elections in 2006, where the party told UNP voters to vote for a trishaw driver because the UNP list got rejected, and the three wheel driver stayed put after getting elected despite the agreement that he would resign in favour of the UNP’s nominees. The question raised by that writer has been that if the UNP was not able to control a trishaw driver, whether they would be able to control a war hero with a great deal of political capital in the country.
A. That, too, is a question I do not want to answer at this point of time.
Q. When we posed the same question to Mr. Mangala Samaraweera, what he said was that the common candidate would have no power in parliament, and would not control either of the mainline political parties, and that this lack of power in parliament would be the tool used to control the common candidate in the event he became president. If, as Mr Samaraweera says, parliament would be used to control the common candidate, by the same token, parliament could be used to abolish the executive presidency as well, without taking this risk of bringing in a politically inexperienced outsider into the system.
A. As I mentioned in passing earlier, parliament actually is powerless vis-a-vis the presidency. The executive president can dissolve parliament anytime after one year. The only action parliament can take against an executive president is an impeachment motion. This is not an easy task, because hasty amendments brought in 1987, reduced the cut-off point for election to parliament from 12.5% to 5%, and this has made it impossible for any party to obtain a proper majority. So, this is the challenge we face.
Q. If this is the extent of might that you are up against in the form of the executive presidency, what validity do these pieces of paper like the UNF agreement have? Signatures were obtained in 1994 and once again in 2005 for the abolition for the executive presidency - all that was futile.
A. The fact is that these signed pieces of paper have no validity in the world of realpolitik.
Q. The leader of the UNP has a marked tendency to favour non-politicians over politicians. At one point he wanted to have non-politicians holding the position of party chairman and general secretary. He also has shown a tendency to field non-politicians at elections and to attempt to stuff the party with non-politicians. Now we seem to have reached a new high point in this trend with even the presidential candidacy placed on offer to a non-politician. What is your stand on this?
A. Nothing in the lines of what you say has happened as yet. As for appointing non-politicians to party positions, some democratic parties like the Liberal Democratic Part of Japan do appoint non-politicians to the position of general secretary. So these are different ways of doing things.
Q. This whole plan to not field a UNP presidential candidate, and to have a common candidate is for the purpose of defeating Mahinda by whatever means possible, by hook or by crook...
A. Power is very important in politics. But, this power has to be democratic. I firmly believe that power should be obtained to serve the country, the people and the party rank and file. I do not believe that the quest for power should be based on resentment and hatred.
