අගවිනිසුරුගේ දේශපාලන භූමිකාව
The editorial recalls Ravaya’s protest when Sarath N. Silva was appointed Chief Justice while facing complaints before the Supreme Court, and says the aim was to bring the court under the President’s control. It faults the opposition for its slow move to impeach him after the 17th Amendment episode, notes Rauff Hakeem’s refusal to back the impeachment even as his party became the first target, and reports Speaker Anura Bandaranaike’s remark that any impeachment of his sister would end with Silva deciding it.
විශ්වාසභංගය ජනමතවිචාරණය
Ivan argues that loss of a majority does not destabilise a country; clinging to power does. After Rauff Hakeem’s group crossed over, the President should have let the opposition form an all-party interim government pledged to constitutional reform and peace. Instead she prorogued Parliament and called a referendum. He rejects comparisons with Premadasa, who first proved his majority with 116 signatures, recalls the 1960 and 1994 precedents and the 1982 referendum, and asks how a leader who tolerates electoral fraud can deliver a better constitution.
දෝෂාභියෝගයක් කැඳවා ගැනීම
Ivan compares how Presidents Jayewardene, Premadasa and Wijetunga handled Parliament, noting that Wijetunga let the narrowly elected People’s Alliance govern after 1994. President Kumaratunga, with the weakest parliamentary base of all, ruled more harshly than Jayewardene, and her treatment of Rauff Hakeem turned the government into a minority. By proroguing Parliament without telling the Cabinet as a no-confidence motion loomed, and floating a referendum, he argues she is inviting an impeachment backed by two-thirds of MPs.
ප්රජාතන්ත්රවාදී ප්රතිසංස්කරණ සඳහා සර්ව පාක්ෂික ආණ්ඩුවක්
The PA is close to collapse: SLFP factions are feuding, most of the SLMC and NUA are drifting away, and S.B. Dissanayake has demanded the President give up the Finance Ministry while promoting a national government under Ratnasiri Wickremanayake. The editorial notes the UNP deal with Rauff Hakeem, the no-confidence motion against Mahipala Herath and the stay on impeachment, and urges an all-party interim government to enact reforms rather than a UNP-dominated one.
A game of switching friends and foes
The PA government is in political uncertainty. With a UNP no-confidence motion gathering momentum it has become suspicious not only of its enemies but of its allies, and appears to have lost the capacity to look at anything calmly or logically.
සතුරන් සේම මිතුරන්ද සැකයි
Ivan describes a People’s Alliance government paralysed by fear of a no-confidence motion. Its margin has shrunk from 37 seats before the 2000 election to nine, with no outside support, so six defections would bring it down. Thondaman, Hakeem and even S.B. Dissanayake are restive, the President accuses allies of taking LTTE money, and the Prime Minister blocked lifting the LTTE ban. The opposition must act before October, when the President may dissolve Parliament.
Eliminate hatred from the struggle for power
Some problems a governing party cannot solve alone, and some cannot be solved without the agreement of all the parties. In a country with many of the first kind, the main challenge of its politics is how to reach the second kind of agreement.
බල තරගයේ වෛර සාධකය ඉවත් කිරීම
Mutual hatred and fear of reprisal stop parties from agreeing on national problems. The editorial reports the Alliance for Democracy’s all-party meeting in Parliament on its eleven-point reform programme, attended by Mahinda Rajapaksa, Rauff Hakeem, the UNP, JVP, TULF, TELO and Tamil Congress, where all agreed that the presidency should answer to Parliament and the courts, backed independent commissions, and favoured holding presidential and parliamentary elections together.
Need for reforms cries out loud
An unprecedented interest in the reforms good governance needs has arisen. The UNP is demanding independent commissions for elections, the judicial service, the police and the public service under a constitutional council, and K.N. Choksy is to bring a draft bill he has prepared.
Way out of the present crisis
The President’s attempt to form a government with the support of other parties is like collecting frogs into an open basket. The government will not accept Rauf Hakeem’s condition that the four commissions be set up within a hundred days, so she is pushed towards abandoning him for Ferial Ashraff.