17 November 2020 12:50 pm
With reference to Daily Mirror online article titled- Fmr Irish President compares Trump’s refusal to concede US election with ’volatile and undemocratic situations’ in SL, Director of International Media and Research at Presidential Secretariat Sugeeswara Senadhira has sent the following comment.
Myopia of Mary Robinson
Former Irish President Mary Robinsosn is the latest ‘democratic champion’ who was gullible enough to swallow hook, line and sinker all the fabricated stories spun by separatist Diaspora and their paid NGO lobbies.
Ms Robinson, who represents a group called ‘The Elders’ says US President Donald Trump’s refusal to concede US Election is similar to volatile and undemocratic situation in Sri Lanka. God only knows why she thought fit to drag Sri Lanka into Trump’s refusal to concede defeat. Either ‘The Elders’ has become senile or those who briefed Ms Robinson deliberately twisted the facts about Sri Lanka’s rich democratic traditions of peaceful transfer of power at every election since independence.
Neither the Prime Ministers of Sri Lanka nor the Presidents of Sri Lanka tried to forcefully stay in power. The moment they faced electoral defeat, they conceded publicly and handed over power peacefully. In fact, when President Mahinda Rajapaksa came to know that he was trailing behind opposition candidate Maithripala Sirisena in 2015 Presiodential Election, he conceded defeat even before the final result was declared and not only quit office, but also handed over the official residence and returned to his ancestral home in Medamulana.
The principle of respect to the democratic transition of power was displayed by every Prime Minister and every President of Sri Lanka and Mary Robinson’s allegation is an absolute canard.