• Oshala Herath slams misuse of Prez Secretariat, public servants & PMD    

New Independent Front Leader and Presidential candidate Oshala Herath has urged the Election Commission (EC) to take action against the alleged misuse of public property by incumbent President and independent Presidential candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe, including the Presidential Secretariat, public servants, and the President's Media Division (PMD) for his (Wickremesinghe) Election campaign activities.

The PMD announced on Tuesday (30 July ) that a total of 92 Parliamentarians met with Wickremesinghe, who is also the United National Party (UNP) Leader, pledging their support for him in the Presidential Election to be held in September.

Speaking to The Daily Morning yesterday (31 July), Herath said that according to the announcement made by the PMD, Wickremesinghe called the ruling parties MPs (Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna-SLPP and UNP) including the Prime Minister for a meeting at the Presidential Secretariat with the intention of securing their support for him in the Presidential Election. He added that the PMD gave wide publicity to photographs, video footage, and press releases in relation to that meeting. "On the one hand, Wickremesinghe is avoiding appointing an Inspector General of Police claiming that he is an independent Presidential candidate. On the other hand, he is misusing the Presidential Secretariat, public officials, and the PMD, which are all maintained by public funds, to carry out his Election campaign. This is disgusting. His moves clearly violate the Presidential Elections Act, No. 15 of 1981 and the Regulation of Election Expenditure Act, No. 3 of 2023." 

Charging that Wickremesinghe's actions cause great injustice to Presidential candidates who are complying with the relevant regulations, and are not capable of spending large sums of money for their Election campaigns, Herath said that he wrote to the EC seeking their immediate attention and appropriate action with regard to the matter.

EC Chairperson R.M.A.L. Rathnayake was not available for comment.