Reconvening Parliament as polls postponed
Image courtesy Even for a country that coped with and ended a near thirty year long civil war, the Covid-19 pandemic has posed an unprecedented challenge, not merely in the area of…
Elections
Parliamentary election 2020 and date of summoning of the new parliament
Photo by AP via ABC News I refer to the ’s two pieces yesterday on the same topic. I am in “Lockdown” in Jaffna and write on my own as a Member…
A Lenten Reflection
“Try again; fail again. Fail better. “- Samuel Beckett Last year at Easter, sudden acts of violence spread immense fear, injury and death, within a matter of moments. A small group of…
‘Me, the people’
Image courtesy ‘Hope in Darkness ‘- Leonard Cohen When ‘we the people’ is replaced with ‘me the people’ there is no denying that democracy is in grave jeopardy. Autocratic governance is…
A place for each within a space for all: A post-presidential election reflection
Before and after the election Concerns for physical security secured a foremost place in people’s expectations and influenced the way many voted. An ‘enemy’, among us but not us, had to be…
Implications of the populist frenzy of the Presidential Election
Photo courtesy In the aftermath of the 2019 Presidential Elections which concluded another era of the Sri Lankan political journey, it is necessary to delve into the fragility of the Sri Lankan…
6 points for a first-time voter after 2019’s Presidential Election
Photo courtesy Editors note: The following was sent to by a regular contributor, who wished to remain anonymous. It was written by the contributor for a young, first-time voter who had been…
Sri Lanka’s Presidential Election: Healing the Wounds is the New Task
Photo courtesy Star Online Sri Lanka’s eighth presidential election held last Sunday has produced an outcome that has surprised the winners, the losers as well as the observers. The most obvious, and…
8 January 2015: Memories from a Future-Past
By the evening of January 08th 2015, I had a slight headache. It was a headache of excitement and uncertainty fueled by an inability to eat or sleep. It was also a…
The Aftermath
AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena via Yahoo News Gotabaya Rajapaksa (Interview with the ITN – 24.2.2010) If Gotabaya Rajapaksa wins the presidency, he and his family will have two priorities: secure the premiership for…
Bearing Responsibility for Evil: A Note on Electoral Choices and Burdens
AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena via Yahoo News As the presidential election heads into its final stretch, handwringing over the lesser of the two evils is reaching its tortured apex. The most terrible strain…
Abiding by Sri Lanka’s Democracy
Photo courtesy A Presidential election is a unique opportunity for Sri Lankan voters to have a direct say in our constitutional democracy. At this time, the way in which we exercise our…
Boycotting an election: Can we afford it?
Photo courtesy Verite Research The Tamils won the 2005 Presidential election – for Mahinda Rajapaksa. They did so not by voting for him. They did so by boycotting the election. In 2005…
How (not) to vote: A letter to the dejected progressive
AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena via Yahoo News On the morning of 9 January 2015, I shed a few quiet tears. Mahinda Rajapaksa, who sought an unprecedented third term for the highest office, had…
A week that will shake Sri Lanka’s future
Photo by Buddhika Weerasinghe via PRI Who is winning? This seems to be the question many people these days are keen to find an answer to. Whenever this question is put to…