The Pivotal Moment and the Long Game
Frankl The US and Sri Lanka are in synchronized election cycles. Eight years ago I wrote an article called “US And Them” about certain correlations which were then observable. So much has…
Year: 2024
An Incumbency Bias: Mainstream Media’s Election Coverage on Twitter
Based on my previous study of looking at how Sri Lankan partisans on Twitter perceived their favoured presidential candidate, and opponents, I wanted to establish how mainstream media (MSM) accounts on the…
Cats That Won’t be Belled
“Wrath” is the opening word of . Wrath is a key driver of the upcoming presidential election. People are angry at political leaders for bankrupting the country. Hopefully, the anger is accompanied…
Abolition of the Executive Presidency: A Voters’ Policy Guide to the 2024 Presidential Election
What is the executive presidential system under the 1978 Constitution? A President directly elected for a fixed term is the Head of State and the Head of Government who exercises the executive…
Voters Want More Government Spending on Health and Education
As Sri Lankans head to the polls, most voters want the government to increase spending on health and education according to the latest findings from the Sri Lanka Opinion Tracker Survey (SLOTS).…
A.K. Dissanayake Leads in Presidential Election Voting Intent
The Institute for Health Policy’s (IHP) Sri Lanka Opinion Tracker Survey (SLOTS) MRP provisional estimates of presidential election voting intent for August 2024 show NPP/JVP leader A.K. Dissanayake and SJB leader Sajith…
Affirmative Action Vital to Increase Women’s Participation in Politics
It is an enduring stain on Sri Lanka’s democracy and gender equality that only 4.8 percent of parliamentarians are women despite their high literacy rate and educational levels. To correct this imbalance,…
Changes in Support for the Leading Presidential Candidates
In first half of 2024, the most notable changes in voting intent were the rise in support for President Ranil Wickremesinghe as a potential presidential candidate at the apparent expense of support…
Time for Sri Lanka to Chart a New Course on Human Rights
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk urged Sri Lanka to break from the past and chart a new course. Addressing the 57th session of the UN Human Rights Council…
Grave Implications of Gun Violence
Gun violence is a prevalent issue that has challenged many countries around the world including Sri Lanka. Guns, a weapon mainly used by armed forces to maintain the peace and security of…
The Hard Truth: Supporting Ranil Now Could Trigger the Next Crisis
moneycontrol The most recent Institute for Health Policy’s (IHP) Sri Lanka Opinion Tracker Survey for July 2024 shows a tight race in the upcoming presidential election. NPP/JVP leader A.K. Dissanayake and SJB…
Hema Shironi’s Embroidery Depicts Impact of Conflict
Hema Shironi’s solo exhibition at the Saskia Fernando Gallery delves into the complex and often painful histories of colonization, civil war, displacement and migration, all of which are intricately woven into the…
Media During Elections: Watchdogs or Wheeler-Dealers?
With a record number of candidates (38) contesting Sri Lanka’s presidential election, voters are yet to witness what new stories (and old stories) these 38 players bring to the table. After all, from…
The NPP, the JVP and the Realities of Communist Party Governance
As Sri Lanka approaches a critical election many citizens, disillusioned with the incumbent government and the economic crisis, are pinning their hopes on the National People’s Power (NPP) alliance. The NPP, particularly…
The Search for the Disappeared: Struggle, Recovery, Resolve
As news of a mass grave breaks on television in a household in the North, its residents, a family of the disappeared, try to find ways of coping with this information. A…
