රැකි රක්ෂා සඳහා ජාතික ප්‍රතිපත්තියක් අවශ්‍ය යි
The cabinet has reportedly reversed, at the President’s intervention, its decision to cancel all state recruitment made between the dissolution of Parliament and the election. The piece argues that a caretaker government has no right to make such appointments, that correcting them is not revenge, and that in a country with high unemployment jobs must go on merit under a fair national recruitment policy, with a law banning hiring once an election is called.
යුද හමුදාව නින්දාවට පත් කිරීම
Ivan argues that Anuruddha Ratwatte used army commandos in the election, including the Madawala and Polgolla polling-station attacks and the Udathalawinna massacre, and faults army commander Lionel Balagalle for permitting it. He then examines the Athurugiriya safe-house affair, questioning why an intelligence unit working in Batticaloa kept thermobaric weapons in Colombo, the irregular rent and uniform contracts, and Charitha Ratwatte’s earlier complaint of a plot to kill Ranil Wickremesinghe.
ඡන්දයේ වටිනාකම එක සමානද?
A set of short items. Ivan objects that the President, Prime Minister and Anura Bandaranaike voted at their residences while ordinary voters faced threats. He faults the failure to prosecute election offences, the Bribery Commission’s refusal to act on misuse of state resources and its neglect of asset declarations, and the CID’s cover-up of the Rohana Kumara and Kumar Ponnambalam murders. He ends with a satirical note on the President’s visit to supporters in Bogambara prison.
ජයග්‍රාහකයා පරාජිතයා නොපෙළිය යුතු ය
The editorial condemns post-election reprisals in areas such as Anamaduwa, Pathadumbara, Nawalapitiya and Hiriyala, where PA figures had behaved like local warlords with police and presidential backing. It says the paper had long warned that such violence would provoke a backlash, and calls on the new government both to stop reprisals and to prosecute those responsible for earlier election violence.
සාහසිකකම්වලට වගකිවයුතු සියලු දෙනා නීතිය ඉදිරියට ගෙනා යුතු .
Voters defeated the People’s Alliance despite a violent campaign in which, the editorial says, the President and cabinet broke election law and the Constitution with the Chief Justice’s backing. It singles out the former deputy defence minister, whose paramilitaries it blames for intimidation in Kandy and the shooting of ten Muslim youths guarding ballot boxes at Madawala, and urges the new government to prosecute those responsible.
මීළග පාර්ලිමේන්තුවෙහි සංයුතිය කුමක් වෙයි ද?.
Ahead of the December 2001 election, the piece examines how the departure of the Muslim Congress, the Ceylon Workers’ Congress and the NUA costs the People’s Alliance about 15 seats. It works through the 2000 district results to show how bonus seats, the 5 per cent cut-off and remainders gave the JVP its ten seats, argues that the JVP is unlikely to become kingmaker, and projects a UNF vote near 50 per cent if rigging and violence are held in check.
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.
Rise and fall: what the numbers say
Two tables: the share of the vote won by parties that took power from an incumbent at a parliamentary election, and the share won by incumbents who were returned. From those rates the column projects the result of the election a week away.
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.