Clinging on to a dictatorial presidency
If there is a country anywhere in the world where a dictatorial ruler is elected by popular vote, it must be Sri Lanka. J.R. Jayewardene built the system by discarding every sensible feature of the American and French models and keeping only the diabolical ones — after which he said the one thing he could not do was turn a woman into a man.
Disregard for the law
Under section 16 of the Presidential Elections Act, only the candidate, the person who nominates him and one other may come to the place where the Commissioner receives nominations. What happened at this nomination, and who was standing where, is the subject of the column.
Tapping for gossip not national security
The telephone was once a status symbol; now it is how people talk, and the computer and e-mail will follow it into every house. In a country facing a real threat to national security, the intelligence service is reportedly being used to listen to political gossip rather than to investigate the threats.