Questions have now been raised over the 36 page draft election manifesto of the Common Opposition as it contains certain “populist” proposals that do not tally with the core message of the political campaign of the opposition.

The Common Opposition’s campaign was based on a number of proposals pertaining to good governance, transparency, abolition of Executive Presidency and introducing democratic reforms. The campaign is very much in line with the 100 day programme that is clearly mentioned in the MOU signed by parties of the common opposition and their presidential candidate Maithripala Sirisena.

However, in the final draft of the MOU, there are various proposals on salary hikes to government servants, subsidies and other similar measures that dilute the core message of the opposition’s campaign, highly placed sources of the opposition told ‘Asian Mirror’ on Saturday. Therefore, they said, some quarters of the opposition have already raised questions over them.

At the same time, there’s a concern among top rung members of the UNP that the language that is used in the Sinhala draft of the manifesto is “too complicated” and does not appeal to the public. Certain high-ranking members of the party have already opined that the UNP spokespersons will have problems when trying to “sell” a complicated election manifesto to the masses during the campaign.  

Asian Mirror reliably learns that the Sinhala draft of the manifesto was handled by a well-known university lecturer, a prominent lawyer and an advertising expert.

Earlier, there was an agreement to present a concise document as the party’s election manifesto that encapsulates the core message of the political campaign of the opposition.