Gotabaya Rajapaksa: A Two Year Timeline
To coincide with the end of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s second year in office, the Centre for Policy Alternatives produced a video timeline detailing some of the defining moments of the President’s past…
Parliamentary Elections 2020
The Rajapaksa Tidal-wave and the Anti-Rajapaksa Tsunami-wall
The Rajapaksas are in a hurry. They have a constitution to make and a country to remake. Currently, the road to both destination seems as wide and as clear as a super-highway.…
How Much is Too Much Power?
Sri Lanka’s August 5 parliamentary elections saw the Sri Lanka People’s Front (SLPP) sweep into power with 145 seats by winning 6.8 million (59%) of the valid votes cast. A two-thirds majority,…
Misleading the Opposition, Misreading the SJB-UNP-JVP
Photo courtesy of Sri Lanka Mirror It’s a simple question. Why, in the face of utter electoral destruction, doesn’t the UNP choose a new leader through a secret ballot? That question alone,…
The Best and The Worst – 2020 General Elections
Photo courtesy of The Diplomat The general elections on 5 August turned out to be an outstanding victory for the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), the Rajapaksa Family and the Sinhala Buddhist nationalists…
A Major Shift in Sri Lanka’s Politics
The results of Sri Lanka’s parliamentary election held on Wednesday show a seismic shift in the country’s electoral map as well as the balance of political power in the new legislature. The…
Election 2020 – An Analysis and Trends
The general election to parliament is concluded and the official results are out. The anticipated landslide victory to the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) has materialised with the SLPP winning a…
Violence and Abuse Deter Women From Entering Politics
The Daily Mirror In a country that produced the world’s first female head of state 60 years ago and has since seen the election of a female as its executive president, women…
What’s in the 19th Amendment For Me?
The true value and effectiveness of the 19th Amendment for improving governance in Sri Lanka has been a matter of debate for some time now. Political representatives and political parties have expressed…
Has COVID-19 Changed the Election Landscape?
This week, Sri Lanka will have a new, or perhaps not-so-new, Parliament. Given the unusual circumstances in which the elections will be held this time, it is useful to look at the…
Stopping the Landslide
Basil Rajapaksa (Daily FT – 29.7.2020) Basil Rajapaksa is the Rajapaksa family’s thinking man. Unlike his brothers and nephews, he doesn’t shoot his mouth off. His remarks should be taken seriously, because,…
The Last Days of the Nineteenth Amendment?
These could be the last days of the Nineteenth Amendment. If not of its entirety, at least of a part of it, even a substantial part of it. The message that the…
An Agenda to Centralise Power
The ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) handsomely won November’s presidential election with 52% of the popular vote and is accordingly the clear favourite and front runner to secure victory at the…