By Skandha Gunasekara The March 12 Movement led by election monitoring organisation People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) will launch an initiative to bring all presidential candidates onto one stage to respond to burning questions of the country put forth by the masses. PAFFREL Executive Director Rohana Hettiarachchi told The Sunday Morning that this initiative by the March 12 Movement was a first of its kind in Sri Lankan electoral politics. “This is a big step for democracy in Sri Lanka as well as electoral politics. There has never before been an occasion where all the major presidential candidates have come on to one stage to respond to the burning questions of the country,” Hettiarachchi said. The March 12 Movement was incepted in March 2017 with the aim of electing members who are principled and free from allegations of corruption within governing bodies. The Movement is an enterprise of PAFFREL and includes civil society groups, trade unions, artists, academics, and professionals. “The March 12 Movement encourages political parties to avoid giving nominations to corrupt individuals and to encourage the public to vote for public-minded candidates committed to democracy,” Hettiarachchi said. Accordingly, the initiative to bring all the candidates to a common stage has two main objectives, he told The Sunday Morning. “One objective is to get all the presidential candidates onto one forum so that all could respond to questions from the masses. We have asked the public to send in questions. We will pose several of these questions to the presidential candidates so that the masses can see how they respond,” he said. The Movement expects to invite all candidates from the four main political parties for the occasion. “So far, only the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) have announced their candidates and we have invited both of them. They responded in the affirmative and we expect them to attend,” Hettiarachchi said, adding that the United National Party (UNP) and Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) had also been approached and the Movement had received a green light from them as well. “We hope that once they have been announced, the UNP and SLFP candidates too will take part in this historic event.” The second objective was to kick off a revolution in Sri Lanka’s political culture to make it more democratic and transparent. “This is an opportunity for us to initiate true change. It is a starting point for us to transform our political culture to make it more inclusive and transparent. This will ensure that presidential candidates engage with their voters more, before the actual poll date. It’s a first step for a healthier democracy,” he said. Not a TV debate The findings of another initiative by the March 12 Movement – My Dream President – would also be announced on the day the presidential candidates are brought to the common stage. The My Dream President programme seeks to garner views from the masses across the country on what an ideal president would be, devoid of party politics. My Dream President was launched in March this year and saw discussions being held with civil society groups, academics, trade unions, and the general public from all parts of the nation to obtain their views on what qualities a model president would have sans political party affiliations and relations. “We will be publicising the findings of the My Dream President project during the event where we bring all the presidential candidates together. This will give them an idea of what the masses seek in a president serving Sri Lanka,” Hettiarachchi said. In addition, the March 12 Movement also hoped to have the presidential candidates make a pledge regarding the election and campaigning activities. “We want all the candidates on stage to make a common pledge regarding the protection of the environment, safeguarding religions of the land, not using hate speech or violence, and to have a free and fair election overall,” he said. He said that it would be a disciplined event and not a television debate. “We have invited the media and expect to broadcast it live, but it will not be like another TV debate. No one will be allowed to disturb or interfere with the proceedings,” he said. The event is scheduled for the first week of October and will be held at a prominent stadium. “The exact date and location will be announced by us at a later date,” Hettiarachchi said. Furthermore, he said that the Election Commission (EC) as well as senior officials of the Elections Secretariat had also been invited to observe the event. “We have invited the senior officials of the EC and Secretariat. Additionally, we have also invited academics, trade unions, Sri Lanka administrative services unions, and other partners of the March 12 Movement,” he added. However, while commending the initiative, Elections Secretariat Director General M.K. Saman Rathnayake said that he believed it would be unethical for officials of the Secretariat to attend the occasion. “We must commend the March 12 Movement for this enterprise. It is a step in the right direction and will help build a stronger political and election culture,” the Director General said. However, he said that he would not be attending the event as he believed that it was not ethical for officials conducting the election to be present at such an event, saying: “As those who are organising and conducting the election, I don’t think it is right for us to take part in such an event. All candidates are equal to us, but their policies and promises are irrelevant to us. Those things are important to the voters. What is important to us is how these candidates carry out their campaigning and that we hold a free and fair election,” Rathnayake said.