දේශපාලන අස්ථාවරභාවය
Although a sea clash did not wreck the peace talks, uncertainty persists over whether the President, now allying with the JVP, will dissolve Parliament. The editorial argues that an early election is unlikely because the PA lacks a firm base, victory with the JVP could bring a worse war, and the international community backs the peace process. It adds that the government has failed to win respect beyond the peace effort, and that lasting peace requires deep reform of the political system rather than a mere truce.
ස්වාධීන කොමිෂන් හා ජවිපෙ
The editorial reminds the JVP that it claimed the 17th Amendment as its own victory, yet it stays silent while the President undermines the independent commissions by refusing to approve their nominees, in breach of the Constitution. It asks why the JVP, which talks most of an early election, does not use its new friendship with the President to get the Independent Elections Commission set up, and whether it would accept a repeat of the Wayamba poll operation.
හදිසි මැතිවරණයක
As the ceasefire agreement with the LTTE nears its first anniversary, the seizure of a boat carrying anti-aircraft weapons shows the LTTE is ready for war, unsettled by talk of a snap dissolution and the President’s pact with the JVP. The editorial warns that an election under cohabitation would be a violent contest, and lists eight points the parties should agree, including electoral reform, restoring the independent commissions, a neutral caretaker government and a five-year national government.
A Snap Election
In a climate where peace hangs by a thread, the looming threat of a snap election promises not a democratic transition, but a destructive contest of death. Caught in a bitter, bilateral deadlock, the Executive President and the Prime Minister are poised to drag the nation into a mad struggle for supremacy. With the LTTE watching warily from the wings, an election waged in the “law of the jungle” risks plunging the exhausted country back into anarchy. To prevent this impending peril, civil society must forcefully demand a civilized consensus—a unified, all-party commitment to structural reform, independent electoral oversight, and a non-military resolution—before the ballot box is completely broken by the barrel of a gun.
දැන් වියහැකි දේ කුමක්ද?
Ivan tests the JVP claim that a JVP–People’s Alliance coalition could have formed a government on 2001 results, pairing the UNP with its Tamil and Muslim allies against the PA, JVP and EPDP, and noting the collapse in both parties’ votes at the 2002 local elections. Policy differences and public fear of renewed war make a lasting alliance unlikely, so an early election is improbable; he urges civil society to widen the government–LTTE talks into a broader state reform.
හදිසි මැතිවරණයකට යෑමේ බිය පහවී නැත
From 5 December the President gains the power to dissolve Parliament at any time. The piece sets out the costs of a snap election: expense, a threat to the peace process and a return to war, administrative disruption, loss of investor confidence and the likelihood of another weak coalition. It doubts the President’s assurances, notes suspicions that she is working through the Muslim Congress, and concludes that she is subtly trying to break the government.
තවත් මැතිවරණයක් අවශ්ය ද?
The editorial argues that the 1978 Constitution breeds endless crises because it ignores the possibility of the presidency and Parliament being held by different parties. Two decades of experience show that the presidency must be amended or abolished, including the arbitrary powers of dissolution and over the cabinet. An election now would damage the peace process and the economy; instead the parties should agree on reform, and the President should accept that her rivals hold the mandate.
නයි පොළගුන් සමග සෙල්ලමට යාම
Ivan likens Ranil Wickremesinghe to a snake charmer handling cobras whose fangs he has not drawn: pursuing the President and her associates slowly through inquiries while they still hold key posts. Further sections note that the committee under retired judge Ranjith Dheerasekera on local election malpractice has been starved of resources, mock the President’s reported threat to bite the Prime Minister’s neck, and warn that the honeymoon is ending, citing Harry Jayawardena’s appointment to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
අධිකරණය ගඳ ගැස්සවීම
A short note on Anura Bandaranaike’s meeting in London, with Nimal Siripala de Silva, with JVP leader Somawansa Amarasinghe to bring the JVP into the People’s Alliance. Ivan calls the two alike in everything but oratory, says Anura’s aim is to overtake Mahinda Rajapaksa as the PA’s next presidential candidate by replacing the pro-peace LSSP and Communist Party with the JVP, and ironically wishes him success.
ජනතාවගේ පරමාධිපත්යය බලය සමග සෙල්ලම් කිරීම
Ivan says the UNF government has failed to keep local elections civilised and has not appointed the promised inquiry into earlier poll malpractice, and traces state-level electoral fraud from the Dedigama by-election and the Jaffna development council poll through 1982 to its revival under Kumaratunga. A second section on the Constitutional Council recounts how the professionals’ draft was reshaped by Jayampathy Wickramaratne so that the President nominates key appointees, a trap the JVP fell into, and asks why the government has not corrected it.