මගී ප්රවාහන සේවා අර්බුදය හා ජනාධිපතිවරණය
Transport is where the public suffers most every day, yet it is the least discussed issue of the campaign, while politicians ride in luxury vehicles at public expense. Ivan examines the conduct of private bus crews and its causes, and proposes measures including restricting container and lorry traffic in Colombo to night hours.
මැතිවරණ නීති උල්ලංඝනය
The campaign is calmer than before, but the state media’s behaviour has not changed and the Elections Commissioner has not dealt with it. Sections follow on ‘the 2005 conspiracy’, Mangala Samaraweera’s democracy, including Ports Authority money spent on his mother’s official residence, Soma Thera and the doctor branded a traitor for finding his death natural, and an assassination plot.
පොරොන්දු දේශපාලනය, දූෂණය, මැතිවරණ නීති හා ජනාධිපතිවරණය
The candidates compete in promises such as a Rs 4,000 Samurdhi payment while the country rots in corruption. The editorial gives two examples, including a large fraud reported by the Auditor General months ago and never investigated, and says a country that cannot even hold a free and fair presidential election is politically uncivilised.
ජනාධිපතිවරණයේ ප්රවණතා
With three weeks to go, Ivan argues that the winner’s side will stay dominant for a long time. If Ranil Wickremesinghe loses, his career ends and the UNP splits; if Mahinda Rajapaksa wins, he will want an early parliamentary election to weaken the JVP and the Hela Urumaya; and it is unclear what the LTTE will do with the Tamil vote.
ජනාධිපතිවරණය, රාජ්ය නායකයා සහ සාමය
Every head of state since independence was elected by the people, yet all ruled like feudal kings, above the law and interfering with the courts. The editorial says change will come only when voters stop following leaders like sheep, and asks at least that the next head of state abandon the tradition of standing above the law.
ජනාධිපතිනියගේ වැඩවසම් වාදය හා මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ
The SLFP is the Bandaranaike family’s party, a change made in Sirimavo’s time. The President agreed to Mahinda Rajapaksa’s candidacy only because she had no choice, still holds the party’s reins through nominations, and is now working for the victory of the rival candidate, Ranil Wickremesinghe.
ජනාධිපතිනියට ද කොකා පෙන්නුවේය
At last week’s Cabinet meeting the President reportedly accused the Prime Minister of conspiring with the Chief Justice to bring the election forward to 2005 and bury the tsunami-funds inquiry against him. Ivan observes that, as ticks leave a dying dog, parasites abandon a failing leader, and shows how the Chief Justice took up a petition to block the interpretation she had sought.
රට යන්නේ කොයිබට ද?
Fifty-seven years after independence the country lurches from one crisis to the next, and hardly a single field gives cause for satisfaction. No ruler has turned it round, and the editorial points to a head of state placed above the law by presidential immunity as one root of failure.
ජනාධිපතිවරණය: සිංහල-බෞද්ධ ඡන්ද පදනම
Who will win the presidential election? Testing the JVP’s claim that an SLFP–JVP alliance would have won in 2001, Ivan analyses the party results of the 2000, 2001 and 2004 parliamentary elections, reproduced in tables, to weigh the size of the Sinhala-Buddhist vote each candidate can draw on.
Sinhala Buddhist Vote Base and the Presidential Election
Six weeks before the 2005 presidential election, Victor Ivan works through whether it can be won on Sinhala Buddhist votes alone. He begins by conceding the JVP’s pre-2004 argument was arithmetically sound: had the SLFP, JVP and EPDP contested together in 2001 they would have outpolled the UNP-led alliance by 27,579 votes. Contesting as one in 2004 they gained only 5,019 votes on their separate 2001 total, took 108 seats without a majority, and were outpolled by the combined opposition by some seven lakhs — 46.04% against 53.96%. But a presidential election is a different instrument: two contenders, one national constituency, and a winner who must clear half the vote. Ivan estimates the Sinhala Buddhist electorate at 6,094,667 of roughly 9.16 million valid votes, meaning a candidate relying on it alone would need 75% of it — a target he does not think easily attainable. He notes too why minorities prefer the presidential system: with the Sinhala vote split between the main parties, their votes can decide who becomes head of state.