19th December 2014

By N Sathiya Moorthy Now that the presidential election is here, the two main contenders seem to be on a denial mode as far as the 25 per cent minority votes are concerned yet wanting them to come his exclusive way, without being seen by their majority Sinhala-Buddhist brethren as asking for the same, or cutting a deal and the corners, for the purpose. Between the two, President Mahinda Rajapaksa is slightly better-placed, not because he may have them all till the polling day. Instead, the vociferous Sri Lankan Tamil (SLT) community has to be seen as being against him, as in 2010. Even a minor share of their votes, and an abstention by a substantial segment, would be a tactical-cum-strategic victory for him. He […]

An online survey conducted by the Centre for Policy Alternatives asked five questions regarding the upcoming Presidential election. The objective of the survey was not to predict election results but to gather public opinion on the elections and contribute to ongoing discussions. As the survey was conducted online and not with a random sample, the findings presented below cannot be generalised to Sri Lanka. 1,394 people completed the survey during the survey period 12-16 December 2014. Respondents were given a list of issues affecting the country at present and were asked to select which issue they thought should be the main focus of the candidates’ campaigns. 51.71% selected corruption while 20.83% selected the economy, 19.08% selected Constitutional reform and 8.38% chose human rights. If the […]

by Shamindra Ferdinando In spite of helping President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government to bring its war, against the LTTE, to a successful conclusion, in May, 2009, the US stepped up pressure on Sri Lanka over accountability issues. The US relentlessly pursued the accountability issues, in accordance with its overall strategy, meant to haul Sri Lanka up before the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). The US project led to the launch of an external investigation into the conduct of Sri Lanka’s political and military leadership, consequent to 25th session, in Geneva, in March, last year. The US, in late Nov 2011, warned, the then SLFP General Secretary and Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena, that the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) would be moved against […]

Wiggy ‘n’ Dougie in verbal sparring bout! BY ANANTH PALAKIDNAR AND MENAKA INDRAKUMAR Northern Chief Minister, C. V. Wigneswaran and Minister Douglas Devananda accused each other of being responsible for Tuesday’s clash between the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) at the District Development Committee meeting, held at the Jaffna Government Secretariat. Wigneswaran, who co-chaired the DDC meeting together with Devananda said, the latter should take the responsibility for the clash. Convening a press briefing at the Chief Minister’s office, on Tuesday evening, Wigneswaran said Devananda and the outsiders who were present at the meeting, were solely responsible for what took place at the DDC meeting. “At the commencement of the DDC meeting the Government Agent Jaffna requested the participants […]