The TNA follows JVP strategy
Image via Al Jazeera No less a person than the JHU’s General Secretary, Patali Champika Ranawaka, went on record over the past weekend, stating that every attempt at campaigning by the joint…
Elections
The Contest
Photo via wx135 The announcement that Maithripala Sirisena, General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and Minister of Health in the Rajapaksa regime is to be The Common Candidate of…
On backing Maithripala Sirisena: Beyond critical support and resigned endorsement
Photograph via VOA News The irony of the present political moment in Sri Lanka is that it appears the message of both Mahinda and Maithripala is essentially the same: ‘there is no substitute’.…
OPEN AND SHUT: ANOTHER LETTER TO OUR MAJESTY
Photo courtesy The Daily Beast Your Highness, I am writing to be Informing you that my wife is leaving home today, threatening to be joining the Opposition. Please do not be thinking…
Collective awakenings and watershed changes in society: Are they in the offing?
Photo courtesy Asian Tribune When the Berlin Wall fell as a result of continuous and determined efforts of the people of then East Germany, and the Perestroika initiated by Gorbechev, it was…
The political need of the hour: Transformational approach to constitution making
Photo courtesy the Daily Beast A long awaited concerted action has now been initiated by the opposition parties in their identification of a common candidate for the upcoming presidential elections, and the…
Maithripala, a good governance challenge from within to Mahinda Rajapakse
Photo by AFP PHOTO/ Ishara S.KODIKARA via The Japan Times This analyst has always maintained that the formulae for the defeat of the Rajapakse regime, was a divided government and a unified opposition.…
The Tamil Elephant in the Green (Blue?) Room
Photo courtesy Sri Lanka Brief Kalana Senaratne’s characteristically perceptive article on the implications of Maithripala Sirisena’s common candidacy for the upcoming Presidential election flags the Tamil question: what role do Tamils and…
Critically Supporting the Anti-Regime Campaign
Photograph via VOA News It had to happen that way, and the break was only possible with a serious split within the regime. The moment had come for members of the SLFP…
THE SIRISENA SURGE: WHY MAHINDA IS STILL WAY AHEAD
Photo by AFP, via AsiaOne Two cheers then for Maithripala Sirisena whose act of resistance and rebellion is truly heroic. Why cheer at all? And why two cheers instead of three? Hearty…
Do we enjoy universal adult Franchise?
Image courtesy SBS We did enjoy full adult voting rights in our island for 18 years after the far reaching Donoughmore reforms of 1931 (reaching further than many of our leaders, Sinhalese…
President’s reference to the Supreme Court
It is reported in the media that President Rajapaksa has referred to the Supreme Court for its opinion the question of his own competency to contest a further term, and that the…
NOT SEEING THE WOOD FOR THE TREES: SARATH SILVA AND THE LEGALITY OF MAHINDA RAJAPAKSA’S THIRD TERM
Image courtesy Newsfirst In the flood of commentary that has followed the former Chief Justice Sarath Silva’s public intervention regarding the potential illegality of President Rajapaksa seeking a third term, many have…
Mahinda Rajapaksa cannot succeed President Rajapaksa
I have discussed in these columns some days ago the contention that President Rajapaksa is not qualified to fight an election for a third term by virtue of the operation of Article…
The JHU critiques the Rajapakse Presidency
Image courtesy News First The barbs and criticisms of a political ally can in politics often do greater damage than even the more forthright criticism of an opponent. The reason for this…