Friday, 20th February 2015
BY Ruwan Laknath Jayakody
Election monitoring bodies will present a document, outlining the necessary criteria for persons wanting to be representatives of the people, to the clergy and political party leaders on 12 March.
The polls monitors' remarked, the draft of the document stating: the criteria to be a people's representative at any level in the political sphere, secondary criteria which is optional and other specific criterion for MPs, provincial councillors and local government members, would be presented to the Mahanayakes of the Malwatte and Asgiriya Chapters and the Archbishop of the Catholic Church. Executive Director of PAFFREL, Rohana Hettiarachchi said, that the primary criteria requires that people's representatives do not have allegations of bribery and corruption levelled against them, and not having being found guilty of any crimes and not having served a suspended sentence.
"They cannot engage in businesses like selling drugs and alcohol and prostitution which are harmful to good governance. Such politicians are concerned with their businesses when engaging in policy-making. They cannot have violated the law and they also cannot do business with the government. To get nominations, the people's representatives must live in a particular electorate, district or zone. They must be of mental and physical health. If the religious leaders and the political party leaders submit suggestions we will incorporate them," he added.
From:https://www.ceylontoday.lk/51-85271-news-detail-paffrel-to-benchmark-criterion-for-politicians.html
