Emerging Governance Issues amid COVID-19
Image courtesy EY As Sri Lanka heads towards completing nearly a month of lockdown, with first the special public holiday route adopted from 16th March and then curfew from 20th March onwards,…
Author: Harim Peiris
Nominations close and elections postponed amid Covid-19
Photo: AFP, Ishara S. Kodiikara via Nominations for the parliamentary elections of 2020 closed late last week and barely an hour after the close of nominations, the Elections Commission made its widely…
Is Sajith slowly pulling ahead as Gota fails to gain traction?
The 2019 presidential election, rather predictably is shaping up politically, very similar to its precedent in 2015. On that occasion, the then ruling Rajapakses’ sought an unprecedented third term and was rebuffed…
Chief Minister Wigneswaran breaks with the TNA and forms the TMA
As the term of office of the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) concludes this month, Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran, elected from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), actually from the Illankai Tamil Arasu Katchi…
Reflections on July 1983: 35 Years On
July 23 marked the 35th anniversary of one of post independent Sri Lanka’s darkest chapters, the July 1983 pogrom against Tamil civilians throughout the country. An ambush of an Army patrol in Jaffna,…
An insufficient appetite for a Rajapaksa return
The outcome of last week’s failed no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has established a few political ground realities. Firstly, it was a massive overreach by the Joint Opposition (JO), which…
A question of confidence in Yahapaalanaya – The unfinished mandate
Hard on the heels of the local government elections, the Joint Opposition (JO) emboldened by the unexpectedly robust performance of their nascent political party, the Sri Lanka Podujana Party (SLPP), popularly known…
The politics of organized violence against the Muslim Community
Image courtesy Azzam Ameen It is an interesting phenomenon in Sri Lanka that the very same people who bristle at the very suggestion of deficiencies in the Sri Lankan State and most…
Local Government election dynamics in the North and East
Photo courtesy Despite the year end holiday season, the political focus is on the upcoming local government elections scheduled for February 10th next year. With nominations closing by end December, January will…
State reforms as a domestic policy imperative
Earlier this week, Parliament debated, on an adjournment motion by the TNA, the unresolved issues of the North and East, namely dealing with the effects and the causes of the war. The…
National Unity Government after one year
Photograph courtesy Ada Derana August 19th was the first anniversary of the National Unity Government elected after the last general elections and several political issues have dominated the recent news, especially the…
Eastern Province Chief Minister and Maximising Civilian Space
The recent verbal fracas involving the Chief Minister of the Eastern Province and a Navy officer, a Captain who is the commander of the Vidura Naval Training camp, has resulted in unfortunate…
The Embilipitiya death, GSP Plus and a challenge for Yahapalanaya
Photo courtesy News1st Sumith Prassana Jayawardena would not normally be a household name. But his sudden and violent death in Embilipitiya following an altercation and clash between guests and the Police at…
Reflections on the “Maithri Palanaya” after one year
AP Photo/Sujeewa Kumar, via The Guardian Saturday 9th January 2016, will mark the completion of one year of the Maithripala Sirisena presidency and it is an opportune time to reflect on the past…
UNP creates broad front while UPFA leads a retreat to the past
Photo courtesy Fatalnews As nominations closed earlier this week, the contours of the battle lines for the general election to Parliament became clear. The two major political formations in the country, the…