Her Vasana chakra spinning other way
President Kumaratunga is drifting towards a political abyss from which there will be no easy return. She did not come to power through commitment, experience or ability but through good fortune, and she became president at a moment when she had been hoping only to become an MP.
An election with democracy turned upside down
The SLMC leader told the President that winning a corrupt election would blemish not only her but her children, and that losing a free one would be more honourable. She assured him there would be a clean election. This column sets that assurance against what was being arranged in the districts.
Disregard for the law
Under section 16 of the Presidential Elections Act, only the candidate, the person who nominates him and one other may come to the place where the Commissioner receives nominations. What happened at this nomination, and who was standing where, is the subject of the column.
Who will get the Tamil support?
The President has gone for a snap election before her term expires, hoping to win it and then to convert that into a bigger parliamentary majority. The hope depends on the first hurdle, and the first hurdle depends on the Tamil vote — which this column counts constituency by constituency.
Will her surprise move patch up cracks?
Many observers knew the President had plans for a snap presidential election; most were still caught unawares when she proclaimed one and shelved the November budget. What follows is a reading of the arithmetic she is betting on, party by party and vote by vote.
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.