Will enable braille voting facility: Gota

SLPP Presidential Candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa today said he would enable the visually handicapped people to vote using the braille facility under a government of his.

Mr. Rajapaksa expressed these views at an event held at his office in Mirihana where the SLPP signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Sri Lanka Sahakampana Organisation and the Joint Front of the Organisations of the Differently-abled.

SLPP Secretary Sagara Kariyawasam, Joint Front of the Organisations of the Differently-abled President Rasanjali Pathirage and Sahakampana Organisation's President Susantha Wickramasinghe signed the MoU.

Speaking at the event, Mr. Rajapaksa said he will take measures to protect the rights of the differently-abled by ratifying the UN Convention on the differently-abled which was signed in 2007.

“During my time as the Defence and Urban Development Secretary, we installed pavements specialised for the differently-abled people by introducing a special type of tile on the pavements. Public toilets with facilities for the differently-abled and access for them at public places were installed during our time. We will also give the opportunity to vote using the braille system in the future," he said.

The SLPP said the two organisations had decided to back Mr. Rajapaksa after considering his service rendered to the differently-abled people as the secretary of the Ministry of Urban Development.

At the event, Mr. Rajapaksa presented his election manifesto in braille and a recorded version of it to the two organisations. (Lahiru Pothmulla)