මැතිවරණ ප්‍රතිඵල වලින් පෙන්නුම් කෙරෙන දේශපාලන උපනති
Ivan analyses the local election results in the Colombo municipal area, Kesbewa, Ratnapura and Galle against the 2000 and 2001 parliamentary polls. The UNP held or gained ground while the PA’s vote collapsed by a third to over half and the JVP also fell sharply. He concludes that voters rejected the PA and JVP’s nationalist claim that the peace effort meant dividing the country, backing peace despite the soaring cost of living.
මැතිවරණ දූෂණවලට ඉඩ නොතැබීම ආණ්ඩුවේ වගකීමක්
Local elections on the 20th in a limited number of councils will test the government’s commitment to free and fair polls. Ivan notes that monitors found malpractice at the previous local elections, blamed on government supporters, and that a promised inquiry committee including a retired Supreme Court judge was never appointed. Organised electoral fraud is always the work of ruling-party supporters with police acquiescence, and controlling it is a duty of government and society.
ඡන්දදායකයන් සඳහා හැඳුනුම් පත අනිවාර්ය කිරීම
The Elections Commissioner’s administration report for 2001 recommends making the national identity card compulsory at the polls to stop impersonation, and calls for a commission to probe the violence and misuse of public property at the last parliamentary election. The editorial notes that a select committee held back because about 35 per cent of voters lacked cards, and argues that digital technology now allows cards to be issued to all adults within a month at modest cost.
ජනාධිපතිනිය චෙක්මේට් වීමට ආසන්නයි
Ivan argues that Chandrika Kumaratunga ruled as a hereditary queen rather than an elected leader, flouted the 17th Amendment in the 2001 election she led, and should have resigned or sought a fresh mandate, or stepped back as D.B. Wijetunga did. Now she is cornered, and he predicts the crisis will cost her the presidency and the Bandaranaikes their hold on the SLFP, and says punishing PA-era crimes, though double-edged, is worthwhile.
ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණට සිදුවූයේ කුමක්ද?
Rebutting Tilvin Silva’s claim of success, Ivan uses vote figures since 1994 to show the JVP lost 47 per cent of its 2001 vote in the local elections, worst in Colombo, Puttalam and Kalutara, which he blames on its nationalism and its alliance with the President. He traces how Chandrika Kumaratunga may steer the party through Somawansa Amarasinghe, whose relative Sirisena Cooray is said to have enabled his 1989 escape, citing General Cecil Waidyaratne.
කිරි කළයේ ගොම
Ivan says that malpractice in some areas has tarnished the government’s deserved local election victory and exposed a hunger for rigging among some of its members. He recalls how Chandrika Kumaratunga’s failure to punish those behind the 1997 malpractices and the North Western Provincial Council poll began her decline, and urges the government to investigate, reprimand offenders, pursue serious PA-era wrongs without revenge, and make people unafraid to oppose it.
මැතිවරණ කොමසාරිස්, වත්කම් බැරකම් නීතිය හා අල්ලස් කොමිසම
Ivan notes that the Elections Commissioner must collect asset declarations from candidates and party office-bearers, and asks whether they were received after the local elections. Requests for copies of the President’s and ministers’ declarations under the previous government were ignored. He points out that the 1994 Bribery Commission Act refers to the outdated 1976 law rather than the 1988 law giving public access, and urges this be fixed and the Commission allowed to act without a complaint.
මැතිවරණයේදි සිදුවූ වැරදි නිවැරදි කිරීම ආණ්ඩුවේ වගකීමක්
The UNF’s large local government victory is read as a mandate for its peace programme and a rejection of the President and the JVP-led anti-peace forces. But the piece records black marks: opposition agents driven from polling stations and Samurdhi recipients’ ballots used by others in some areas. It argues that the government, which had wanted a clean election but did not instruct its candidates firmly, must investigate and discipline its own offenders rather than point to election petitions.
විය හැකි දේ සහ විය යුතු දේ
Written on the eve of the local government elections, Ivan sets out what each side must prove against the 2001 results, and says a sharp JVP decline could mark the beginning of its end. He praises the government’s comparatively clean campaign, proposes reforming the executive presidency by removing the arbitrary dissolution power and simplifying removal of a president, and argues that Prabhakaran, like Mandela, could become a stronger leader by abandoning arms.
ජනාධිපතිනියගේ දෙබිඩි පිළිවෙත
The editorial argues that the President’s opposition to the government’s negotiations with the LTTE defies the majority who elected the UNF on a promise of peace talks. It holds that the 2001 result also cancelled her 1999 mandate, so she should either resign or let the new government govern, and warns that telling the world she backs peace while telling supporters she will resist a sell-out could do the country great harm.