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Reclaim a democratic Sri Lanka, UNP tells first-time voters
View(s):“If you vote in this election and you choose to stand with us on the side of democracy and justice, good governance and the rule of law, social justice and freedom, then your vote will be much more than just a mark on a ballot paper,” said the United National Party (UNP)’s statement for first-time voters.
The statement addressing the young first-timers said, “Dare if you will, to dream of a country that spends more on Education and less on night races and Ferraris,”
It further said, “This can be the country of night races and thoroughbred horses for crown princes; it can be the country of religious hatred and division. Or it can be ‘Your’ Sri Lanka, the country you reclaim on January 8, 2015, and make it a prosperous, secure and free nation for all those born of this soil.”
The UNP said that those who cast their votes for the first time at the January 8 election, will do much more than simply elect the next president of the Republic.
“In this election, you are choosing a way of life. You are choosing between two systems of governance. The choice you make on January 8 may well decide if you will live a life of serfdom and oppression or, if you will face your future as free citizens of a democracy,” the main Opposition party advised first-time voters.
The UNP urged first-timers to vote to keep the lights on in Asia’s oldest democracy, and to create a nation in which not only the President’s children, but those of the farmer and the teacher too, can dream of journeying to space.
“Will you live out your days in the free winds of democracy, where your individual choices are respected and upheld, where politicians are accountable, and there is equal opportunity, jobs and dream-seeking for all Sri Lanka’s youth? Or will you choose to retain the present status quo and plunge your own life and that of your country and all her people into darkness,” the Party asked the voters.
The Party said that, if the voter opts for the present regime, the country that lies in their future is a dark, oppressive place, where autocracy takes root and the peoples’ freedom is stolen, their will thwarted.
“In that dark country, one family will reign supreme; their children will amass wealth and power and rob the people of prosperity and a secure future,” the Party said.
“Imagine Sri Lanka at peace, tolerant of all religious beliefs and all ethnic and cultural groups, each of us safe and secure, each of us celebrating our diversity and great commonality,” the UNP said to first-time voters across the country.