සිදු වූ මැතිවරණ දූෂණ ඉදිරියේ පාර්ලිමේන්තුව නිහඬ නොවිය යුතුයි
Although the President pledged to give no posts to anyone involved in electoral fraud or violence, many leading offenders have been rewarded with cabinet posts. The editorial argues that future fraud can be prevented only by punishing past offences, criticises the opposition for staying silent about the organised rigging of the last election, and proposes a parliamentary commission of inquiry to expel the ‘rotten eggs’ so that their dishonour is not shared by every member.
In the name of the democracy, please
The executive presidency split the state power that had been concentrated in parliament, and a large part of it now sits with a directly elected president. Parliament is nonetheless still the country’s supreme political institution — and this is an argument addressed to its new Speaker.
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.
නිදහස් හා සාධාරණ නොවන මැතිවරණයක්
The editorial says the parliamentary election showed the true measure of Sri Lankan democracy. The caretaker government gave out tens of thousands of jobs, state land and public funds for campaigning. The Elections Commissioner, lacking real powers, succeeded only where there was no violence, and says he cannot annul results even in the 17 electorates a monitoring body found grossly corrupt. Where opposition agents were driven out and officials kept silent, stuffed ballots were counted, entrenching the idea that an election won by force is legitimate.
නිදහස් හා සාධාරණය කොයිබටද
As the Alliance for Democracy ties yellow bands on voters’ wrists, the President has run an advertisement pledging a free and fair poll ‘as in six previous elections’. Ivan says this would make the North Western poll and the 1999 presidential election fair, likens it to J.R. Jayewardene’s referendum, and lists jobs, loans and land handed out after dissolution. He details violence in Anuradhapura, Kandy, Kegalle, Puttalam and Matale, where police shot a JVP protester, and warns that victory by force lays the ground for rebellion.
ප්රචණ්ඩත්වයට වගකිව යුත්තෝ කවරහු ද?
The President has expressed sorrow at the death of JVP member Arambagedara Siridewa, shot by police in Matale, but the editorial says she has shown no real will to curb the violence of her party’s regional strongmen. It cites Deputy Minister Shantha Premaratne calling the Chief Minister Anuradhapura’s only terrorist, D.M. Jayaratne’s remark that Kandy faces a war rather than an election, and a Matale police chief said to be the Chief Minister’s relative. It calls on the President to rein these men in.
Scapegoat for political survival
While the Alliance for a Free and Fair Election was getting people to wear a yellow band, the President published an advertisement of her own in which the yellow bands are replaced by bands of various bright colours. What the two campaigns are actually asking for is not the same thing.
Human rights Vs Election victory
The future of democracy in Sri Lanka appears to hang on one question: whether the Commissioner of Elections can hold the coming parliamentary election in a free and fair manner, if not entirely then substantially.
මැතිවරණ කොමසාරිස්වරයාට අත නොතබනු
After a complaint showed that polling cards identical to those secretly printed at the Government Press were being produced outside, the Elections Commissioner had security stickers printed privately. The CID seized the stickers and the government moved to remove him for bypassing the Government Press. The editorial defends his decision, says the government should apologise, and urges citizens to protect the Commissioner unconditionally.
චන්ද්රිකා පාලනයේ ඇතැම් ගති ලක්ෂණ අනාගතය
Ivan argues that Chandrika Kumaratunga reached power by chance, as Vijaya Kumaratunga, Lalith Athulathmudali, Ranasinghe Premadasa and Gamini Dissanayake left the scene and Anura Bandaranaike quit the SLFP. Lacking experience, she sidelined seasoned figures such as Dharmasiri Senanayake and Mahinda Rajapaksa in favour of S.B. Dissanayake and Mangala Samaraweera. He lists broken promises on the executive presidency, the ‘Pajero culture’, duty-free vehicle permits and liquor licences for MPs, condemns her record of rigged elections, and warns that the worst of her rule may come in a second six years.