Ex-army chief Sarath Fonseka has announced his intention to contest at Sri Lanka’s upcoming presidential election in a pre-dawn X (twitter) message.“I wish to announce my Presidential Candidacy to the people of Sri Lanka”
“For 76 years, we have been led by an inept political group that has led us to bankruptcy.”
“This is my formal and official announcement as the presidential candidate of Sri Lanka for the 2024 Presidential Election.
“I invite every Sri Lankan to join me to take Sri Lanka forward.”
The former Army chief said for Sri Lanka to grow, “we need to #CrushCorruption,” and “We need to leverage our natural resources to boost income generation,” echoing the oft-repeated slogans of some other political parties.
Fonseka, Sri Lanka’s first field marshal, unsuccessfully tried to challenge a re-election bid by the then-strongman president Mahinda Rajapakse in 2010.
He was jailed for alleged treason by the previous regime as a result.
Fonseka led troops to victory over the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009, but then fell out with Rajapakse over who deserved the credit.
He has no party of his own, and was most recently a part of the Samagi Jana Balavegaya.
COURTESY:ECONOMY NEXT