{"id":59223,"date":"2018-05-16T00:19:27","date_gmt":"2018-05-16T05:19:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=59223"},"modified":"2018-05-16T00:21:27","modified_gmt":"2018-05-16T05:21:27","slug":"ex-defence-secretary-launches-unofficial-bid-to-contest-the-next-presidential-elections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=59223","title":{"rendered":"Ex -Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa Launches Unofficial Bid to Contest the Next Presidential Elections."},"content":{"rendered":"

Former defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has unofficially launched his bid to run for the presidency at the 2019 elections with a ceremony at the Shangri-La hotel in Colombo.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Political sources said Rajapaksa had invited his three politically active brothers as guests of what he called the launch his 2030 vision for Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

In a 25-minute address in Sinhala, the former defence chief spoke of Sri Lanka needing a “socialist, market-economy” while protecting the sovereignty and the culture of the island.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

He also spoke of economic reforms and warned that a “window of opportunity” will not be open for ever. He lamented that Sri Lanka was still dependent on traditional exports and lacked high-value added industrial exports.<\/p>\n

The meeting came in the backdrop of an internal power struggle within the Rajapaksa family where younger brother Basil had hoped to be the presidential candidate in 2019.<\/p>\n

Basil established his credentials by leading his newly formed SLPP to victory at the February local elections. In contrast, Gotabhaya was completely out of the election campaign of the SLPP.<\/p>\n

Several allies of the SLFP, including Vasudeva Nanayakkara, has asked former president Rajapaksa’s eldest brother Chamal to be a compromise candidate.<\/p>\n

It was not immediately clear if the charismatic former president would support Chamal over Gotabhaya or Basil, but insiders say he was also keen on making a return to power.<\/p>\n

Mahinda Rajapaksa was banking on the national unity government changing the constitution and reverting the country to a Westminster-style parliamentary democracy so that he could return as an executive prime minister.<\/p>\n

Gotabhaya has a legal hurdle if he wants to enter public life. Under the 19th amendment, no dual-citizen of Sri Lanka can contest elections. However, he could renounce his US citizenship to enter local politics.<\/p>\n

Courtesy:ECONOMY NEXT<\/em><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has unofficially launched his bid to run for the presidency at the 2019 elections with a ceremony at the Shangri-La hotel in Colombo. Political sources said Rajapaksa had invited his three politically active brothers as guests of what he called the launch his 2030 vision for Sri Lanka. In a …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Ex -Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa Launches Unofficial Bid to Contest the Next Presidential Elections.’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59223"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=59223"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59225,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59223\/revisions\/59225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=59223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=59223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=59223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}