Peace and president: New Govt.’s tight-rope walk
The Prime Minister and his retinue have crossed the river full of man-eating crocodiles and reached land. They may think the walk to the oasis is easier than the crossing was. Land looks safe and is full of pits and mirages, and sometimes crossing it is harder than crossing water.
ගින්දර සමග සෙල්ලම් කිරීම
Ivan warns Ranil Wickremesinghe that after crossing the crocodile-infested river of the election he faces mined ground. Chandrika Kumaratunga has ceded defence but keeps appointments of the IGP, service chiefs, governors and ambassadors, an expanding presidential secretariat, the President’s Fund and a security force of some 4,000. While she quietly backs the JVP’s campaign against the peace process, he argues, she waits for an incident that will let her strike, so her powers must be curbed.
President may face impeachment
During the campaign the President boasted of her wide powers, and after the United National Front won she did not pick a fight with the winner by flourishing them. She has handed over internal administration and remains chief executive, commander-in-chief, and the holder of a private army of thousands.
ජනාධිපතිනිය ඉන්නේ දෝෂාභියෝගයක මුව විට ය
Ivan reads Chandrika Kumaratunga’s handover of domestic power to the UNF as a tactical retreat by a cobra biding its time, since she keeps executive power, command of the forces, a large security force and the power to dissolve Parliament. Because she installed a loyal Chief Justice who could nullify an impeachment, he argues that the new government must first remove Sarath N. Silva before moving against her, which would then require a presidential election.
Will the president be checkmated?
Using and misusing state resources to the utmost, a desperate PA played even its last trump card, the Tiger card, and the people disregarded all of it and defeated the government with the power of their innocent vote. What the President can still do, and what should be done to her office, is the question.
ජනාධිපතිනිය චෙක් මේට් වේද?
After the People’s Alliance defeat, Ivan weighs the options facing Chandrika Kumaratunga, who still holds executive power. Contrasting American practice and French cohabitation under Mitterrand and Chirac with Sri Lanka’s short 1994 experience, he sees three paths: resignation, a Wijetunga-style nominal presidency, or removal by the new majority through budget control or impeachment. He calls for constitutional reforms making the president accountable to Parliament and the courts and giving the Prime Minister full domestic authority.
මහජනතාවගේ පරමාධිපත්ය බලය සමග සෙල්ලම් කරන අයට දඬුවම් පමුණුවනු
The editorial calls the election decisive for democracy, accusing the People’s Alliance of rigging every poll since 1994, ignoring the 17th Amendment, threatening the Elections Commissioner and hinting it would block an opposition government. As voters punished the UNP in 1994, it says, they must now punish the PA and build stronger democratic institutions.
මහජන කැමැත්තට පයින් ගැසීම
Anura Bandaranaike said that even if the United National Front won, his sister would not let it form a government but would keep proroguing and dissolving Parliament. The editorial replies that Sri Lanka is not a Bandaranaike feudal estate, that sovereignty lies with the people, and that voters also decide which politicians belong on the rubbish heap of history.
පොදු පෙරමුණ පරාජය වුවහොත් විය හැක්කේ කුමක්ද?
Ivan considers cohabitation between a PA President and a UNP Parliament. He recalls how President Wijetunga cooperated with Chandrika Kumaratunga in 1994, quotes N.M. Perera’s 1978 warnings that a hostile Parliament could paralyse a president through its control of finance, and argues that a PA defeat would amount to a popular verdict against her. He concludes that she must accept the leader of the winning party as Prime Minister or face public revolt.
Powerless presidency and power of parliament
Under the 1978 constitution one party can hold the presidency while another commands parliament. That happened briefly between August and December 1994, and it is about to happen again — and this time the President will be at the greater disadvantage.