UN General Assembly
1970

181. Before I turn to the problems that face the United Nations today and to the measures that might be taken to give it greater vitality and to resurrect it from its present state of almost complete ineffectiveness in the political sphere, I should like to refer to recent developments in Ceylon's foreign policy. In May of this year a new Government took office in Ceylon, elected by the freely exercised vote of all men and women above the age of eighteen. It was a dramatic demonstration of the power and the glory of democracy and above all of the value of the electoral process, free from any extraneous influences, as a means of selecting the government of a country. It was the authentic voice of the people choosing between parties whose alternative programs, promises and pledges were openly available for free choice. Critics of our foreign policy would do well to remember that it represents the expression of the will of the people, the sovereign element in a genuine and robust democracy.