ආණ්ඩු වෙනසක් ඇති කළ මැතිවරණවලදි හා ආණ්ඩු වෙනසක් ඇති නොකළ මැතිවරණවල දි ජයග්රාහකයා ලබාගත් ඡන්ද අනුපාතිකයේ වෙනස්කම්
Ivan shows that since 1952 opposition parties winning power have gained on average about 18 per cent in vote share, while re-elected governments have lost ground. Applying this pattern, together with the departure of the Muslim Congress and the Ceylon Workers’ Congress from the PA, he estimates that the United National Front will take about half the vote and 124–126 seats against 74–76 for the People’s Alliance, and supports this with two tables.
Dirty politics undermine sovereignty of people
The rule of law is essential to the survival of a democratic political system, and when the rule of law is broken the system is damaged with it. What follows is a list of the specific breakages, with figures.
99 ජනාධිපතිවරණය වංචාවෙන් ජයගැනීම සඳහා යොදා ගැනුණු
Ivan argues that Chandrika Kumaratunga’s 1999 victory rested on organised fraud rather than sympathy after the bomb attack. He describes S.B. Dissanayake’s push for an early poll, a Samurdhi scheme to seize the poll cards of opposition voters, ballot-box substitution with compliant officials, the removal of the acting Elections Commissioner, and a million forged ballots distributed with underworld and presidential-security help. He ends with practical safeguards for party agents at the coming election.
වැටත් නියරත් ගොයම් කා නම් කාට කියන්න ද?
The editorial argues that before bringing Prabhakaran under the law, the President, cabinet and Supreme Court must themselves respect the Constitution. It lists the caretaker government’s pay rises, regularisations, a Rs 1,000 million handout through divisional secretariats and use of state media, faults the Elections Commissioner’s inaction, and contrasts the Supreme Court’s past orders on free elections with its current dismissal of petitions under the Chief Justice.
The truth is out there
The accusations and counter-accusations in the quarrel between S.B. Dissanayake and the President are extremely serious, and both sides are holding fire — refraining from using all the bullets at once, and firing one or two at a time.
ඇනීටා, ප්රභාකරන් හා චන්ද්රිකා
Prompted by Anita Pratap’s book Island of Blood, Ivan recalls his own part in the 1994–95 peace efforts: prison talks with Tamil detainees after 1971, his view that Chandrika Kumaratunga used the peace issue for Tamil votes, his attempt to broker trust between her and Ranil Wickremesinghe, and a March 1995 Jaffna visit where he helped secure the release of fifteen police prisoners. He also recounts learning from Anton Balasingham of a secret message she sent Prabhakaran through Pratap, and the resumption of war in April 1995.
ව්යවස්ථාව විහිළුවක් බවට පත් කිරීම
The editorial says that the 17th Amendment, passed with cross-party support to secure free and fair elections, has been turned into a farce. It holds the President and the PA government responsible for violating it, the Elections Commissioner for standing by, and the courts for encouraging the violators, and warns that the result will be anarchy without the rule of law.
රජ ගෙදරින් ඇසෙන ඝාතන සංවාදය
Chandrika Kumaratunga told a youth convention that S.B. Dissanayake had urged her to become a dictator and offered to have one or two critical editors killed. Dissanayake replied that she had discussed such matters with Baddegane Sanjeewa, the murdered presidential security officer linked to the Rohana Kumara killing. Ivan describes Sanjeewa’s wealth and protection, identifies the targeted editors as Lasantha Wickrematunge and himself, and recalls the threats and attacks they suffered.
බලය තීන්දු කිරිමේ අයිතිය ඇත්තේ මහජනතාවට ය
Ivan argues that voters, not intimidation, must decide who governs, and that a caretaker government using state power and resources for its own campaign betrays the constitutional compact. He condemns the PA’s disregard of the 17th Amendment and warns that leaders unable to accept defeat gracefully cannot be trusted with graver national problems.
17th Amendment aimed to stop malpractice
At an election a private person or a private institution may help whichever party it likes. A government official or a government institution has no such right: their duty is to be politically silent and inactive and let the people elect the government they want.