Individual power disastrous to democracy
The government will not get a two-thirds majority at a parliamentary election. It can reach the number only by enacting a law that permits crossovers and then holding a referendum — which is precisely what was done once before, and this column is about what that cost.
Ranil’s googly: Presidency out or not out?
The opposition leader’s statement is complicated, but what it says is that despite its reservations his party will not obstruct the draft constitution if the government thinks it has no other course. Whether that is a concession or a googly is the question the column turns on.
ජනාධිපතිනියගේ ජාතිය ඇමතීම බණ්ඩාරනායක පවුලේ ඉඩම් අයිතිය හා ඉඩම් සීමා නීතිය
Ivan disputes the President’s claim in her 3 January address that her father owned about 4,000 acres and sold 2,000 for politics. Tracing the Bandaranaike mudaliyar line, the colonial land grants of 1815 and 1818, and figures from Patrick Peebles and the 1927 Ferguson’s Directory, he shows Sir Solomon Dias Bandaranaike held 1,831 acres. He notes that many families lost more land under the ceiling law, reproducing tables of large native landowners.
ඊළගට වෙන්න යන්නේ කුමක්ද?
Ranil Wickremesinghe has signalled, if awkwardly, that the UNP will not block the People’s Alliance draft constitution, a ‘googly’ to the President. Ivan explains that the draft would force her to give up an executive presidency that answers to neither Parliament nor the courts for a premiership open to criticism and defeat. Refusing would expose her before the public, her own party, minorities and the international community.
ගෙදර ගියොත් අඹු නසී, මග හිටියොත් තා නසී
Ivan finds the government trapped after its presidential win. S.B. Dissanayake has become one of the few steering the state, while Sarath Amunugama has displaced Mangala Samaraweera on media and failed to deliver UNP defectors. Party-crossing and a referendum to extend Parliament’s term are both fraught, the President’s health raises questions, she is unlikely to trade the presidency for the premiership, and on the ethnic question she is likely to lean towards war.
ඊළඟට කුමක් සිදුවේද
After the presidential election the editorial finds the way ahead unclear. It asks whether the President’s call to the UNP means a genuine national government or a ploy to isolate Ranil Wickremesinghe, doubts that the promised new constitution and package can pass with anti-package figures in the alliance, and notes that a prime minister is less secure than an executive president. A second section faults Wickremesinghe’s leadership for passivity over the Chief Justice appointment and the elections machinery and for careless remarks.
ජනාධිපති ක්රමය අහෝසි කරන බවට දි ඇති පොරොන්දුව ඉටු කරන්නේ කවදා ද?
Ivan recalls that Chandrika Kumaratunga promised at every rally to tear up J.R. Jayewardene’s constitution and enact the People’s Alliance draft. He traces the demand to abolish the executive presidency from the Premadasa impeachment and the SLFP’s 1988 and 1994 manifestos, notes the government’s silence since winning, and argues that with UNP cooperation the next parliamentary election could be held under a parliamentary system.
නැවත ජයග්රහණය අනාගතය
Ivan analyses Chandrika Kumaratunga’s re-election, which he judges not entirely clean but not overturned by the malpractice in seats such as Hanguranketa and Dambulla. The LTTE bomb at her final rally swung sympathy her way and the anger at Prabhakaran fell on Ranil Wickremesinghe, yet her share of the vote fell sharply from 1994. He foresees clashes between pro- and anti-package forces in the People’s Alliance, doubts she will give up the executive presidency as promised, and notes costly election pledges.
Clinging on to a dictatorial presidency
If there is a country anywhere in the world where a dictatorial ruler is elected by popular vote, it must be Sri Lanka. J.R. Jayewardene built the system by discarding every sensible feature of the American and French models and keeping only the diabolical ones — after which he said the one thing he could not do was turn a woman into a man.
Towards another reign of terror!
The leaders of the People’s Alliance mean to stay in power for at least one more term whatever the people think of it. Consent and democratic principle are laughable matters to them: the feeling is that if the UNP held power for seventeen years, they are owed a minimum of one term more.