Mahesh Senanayake former army commander of Sri Lanka has announced that he would contest the November 16 Presidential election, pledging legal reform and a “new political” culture for the country.
General Senanayake is being fielded by the National People’s Movement (NPM), a collective of island-wide civil society organisations that converged in late 2018, with the aim of offering a political alternative.
The present power struggle and rivalry action among main political parties may eventually pave the way for the evolution of a brutal dictatorship, in the absence of a feasible alternative to the people of this country,” states the NPM’s preamble, adding that the country could be saved only through “a structured and an organised people’s movement.
In the presidential race, General Senanayake will face another former military officer, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the war-time Defence Secretary contesting from the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), Deputy Leader and Minister Sajith Premadasa of the ruling United National Party (UNP), and Leader of the leftist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), Anura Dissanayake.
