Banding together against polls violence
Administration by representatives the people elect is an inherent feature of a democratic system. If the elections are not free and fair, the administration they produce cannot be called democratic — which is why a campaign to get a million people to band together against election violence matters.
සාධාරණ මැතිවරණයක් සඳහා මහානාහිමිවරුන්ගේ මැදිහත්වීම
The Mahanayake Theras of the three Nikayas have urged monks to work actively for a free and fair election, and the National Sangha Council is to meet on 5 September. Ivan welcomes this, urges other religious leaders to join, and traces organised electoral fraud from the 1981 Jaffna DDC poll through the 1980s and, after a clean interlude, the People’s Alliance’s elections from 1997, now subtler than old-style ballot stuffing. Only mass public action can check it.
විය හැක්කේ කුමක්ද?
The editorial analyses the likely shape of the new Parliament. The People’s Alliance held about 129 seats through the Muslim Congress, Ceylon Workers’ Congress and EPDP, but splits in the first two and the EPDP’s weak prospects in Jaffna threaten that base, while the JVP may win eight to ten seats. Neither major party is likely to pass 100 seats, and any result may push the executive presidency into crisis, possibly ending in a national government.
Parliament after polls: cohabitation or conflict?
What will the new parliament look like? Will the PA improve its slender majority or find itself on the opposition benches? A seat-by-seat reading written a fortnight before the October 2000 general election.
පොලිසිය ආණ්ඩුවේ දේශපාලන අතකොලුවක් නොවිය යුතු ය
The editorial condemns the removal from Kandy of Deputy Inspector General Sirisena Herath after he clashed with General Anuruddha Ratwatte’s son during a violent, corrupt election in the district, followed by the transfer of a superintendent and six officers of his special unit to operational areas. It says police across the country serve local politicians and calls for an independent police commission.
When the going gets tough, PA gets going
The government’s greatest hope was to change the electoral system somehow, introduce a new one, and win the coming parliamentary election on it. That hope has gone, and the path left is a difficult one: lose the majority and the presidential system itself goes into crisis.
ශ්රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය කොතරම් දුරකට ස්වාධීනද?
The editorial argues that Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva is serving the President’s political aims, as seen in government-related cases and the proposed 17th Amendment to change the electoral system. Unlike earlier amendments heard by the most senior judges, this bench excluded the four seniors and constitutional experts Mark Fernando, A.R.B. Amerasinghe and Ranjith Dheeraratne, and allowed a change that would give the alliance 201 of 298 seats and the JVP none without a referendum.
වැරදුණු කුරුමානම
Ivan argues that the government’s rushed new constitution was a cover for entrenching the executive presidency and a mixed electoral system of 298 members. The plan was to win minority parties with the ethnic settlement, buy about nine to sixteen UNP MPs, and rely on a Supreme Court under Sarath N. Silva to waive a referendum. Public opposition across ethnic lines scattered the defectors and forced its withdrawal, which he calls the country’s good fortune.
Judging the independence of the Judiciary
An independent judiciary is a precondition for the survival of a democracy. Sovereign power lies with the people, and it is the courts’ responsibility not to permit laws that reduce it. The test applied here is how the bench was constituted to examine the Seventeenth Amendment.
එදා ජේ.ආර්. කල දේම අද චන්ද්රිකා කරයි
Ivan compares the government’s rush to enlarge Parliament to 281 seats with 168 elected by first-past-the-post, avoiding a referendum through a court ruling, with J.R. Jayewardene’s attempt to keep Abeyratne Pilapitiya in Parliament after losing the Kalawana election petition. Then the Supreme Court ruled that adding even one seat required a referendum and Sarath Muttetuwegama took the seat. He estimates buying the nine UNP votes needed for two-thirds would cost about Rs 180 million.