Note from author: For someone who is not in the least interested in politics – and is more often than not bored by it – my reaction to the 2010 Presidential Elections was surprising, even to me. Strangely enough though, I found that a lot of people felt much the same way. We were repulsed by constant news of violence; inescapable hoardings with their proclamations that our politicians loved us; posters that made the city walls disappear beneath them; partisan media stuffing propaganda down our unwilling throats; the promises of candidates that we knew to be false.

Yet, despite all this, we cared – albeit, rather reluctantly and in spite of ourselves. We still wanted to be in the know; we …

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A pre-presidential election conversation I had with well-known lawyer and activist Javed Yusuf touched upon a number of issues vital to Sri Lanka over the course of 2010 and well-beyond. Javed Yusuf was Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia in the mid-90’s, and in this video strongly argues for the abolition of the office of the Executive President. He notes that the myth of the office protecting the rights of minorities has no basis in fact, noting that no Executive President has really helped the minorities to fulfil their aspirations.

Javed also touches upon issues of post-war reconciliation.

A divergent view is expressed …

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Note: Contrary to what you might assume from the title, this is not a general onslaught on the diaspora at large. This is based on two recent incidents that really ‘got my goat,’ in a matter of speaking. Therefore, I’d like any readers who’d fall into the bracket of the ‘diaspora’ to please take the contents of this letter in that context, and not as an attack on anyone who’s ever stepped off the shores of sunny Lanka. Also, I’d like to add that I have absolutely no political affiliation or agenda to achieve by writing this. It was just two pieces of news that really got to me, so I just had to write this. That’s it.

Dear RCD,

I …

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There is, at present, much excitement over the question of when re-elected President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s second (and new) term begins. Various news reports concerning the matter have been published in the print media. It was reported once that the President had informed certain media heads that he would consult the Supreme Court to get an opinion on the matter. Certain other media reports have suggested that the President had informed he would take oaths on the 4 February, 2010.

Position under the Constitution of 1978

The Constitutional provisions concerning the question of when a re-elected President’s second term begins are quite clear, though illogical.

The relevant provision is Article 31 (3A)(d)(i), which provides that if the President is re-elected, he will hold office …

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“Prabhakaran, a textbook fascist…” - The Economist (‘Victory for the Tiger Slayer’ Jan 28th, 2010)

“Resistance to imperialism does not of course involve only armed force or bands of guerrillas. It is mainly allied with nationalism and with an aroused sense of aggrieved religious, cultural or existential identity.”- Edward Said (‘The Voyage In: Third World Intellectuals and Metropolitan Cultures’)

It is easy to be wise after the event, so I usually try to be wise before it. In a piece originally entitled ‘Crisis 2010: The post election scenario’ published over a month ago, from Dec 20th 2009 through to the 23rd, in the Sunday Lakbima, Transcurrents, Sri Lanka Guardian and Ada Derana, this is how I saw the Presidential election panning …

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On the day after elections, I sat in the afternoon to write this amidst phone calls and text messages inquiring and informing about “strong” rumours on “result rigging” by the Rajapaksa regime. All rumours, spinning wildly in the world of the all knowing urban middle class, who had “access to inside information”, but knew nothing about of how an election is conducted and the results are released.

Their “inside” information, was not the information that was available in the districts outside Colombo, where President Rajapaksa was heavily voted for. In those districts, the Opposition political activists, the UNF, the JVP, the SLMC and the DPF counting agents in counting centres who sat through the night along with thousands of public servants …

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Aachcharya writing from Jaffna

I wrote on the 30th of December in a post to Groundviews (and republished in the Daily Mirror) that the assertion that the Tamil people would be deciders in the Presidential election would be a myth. There was nothing brilliant or extraordinary about what I said at that time, but it was contrary to public perception that was prevalent all over the country and in international media circles. What I suggested was that for the Tamil people to be deciders two conditions have to be fulfilled. I wrote:

“For the Tamils to be the deciders in the election (like they could have been in the last) they have to vote as a whole, to one candidate …

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January 28, 2010

Dear Mr. President,

Congratulations on your land slide victory which, like most Colombo elites, I was stunned by. Your spokesperson Dr R Wijesinghe quite rightly described us as shallow and lacking foresight and the common touch unlike the rural polity who rightly judged your true capability and potential based purely on your good governance and not by manipulation through crafty and cut throat state propaganda. We eagerly look forward to another six or maybe eight? years of glorious Mahinda Chinthanaya. We have full confidence in your wise and just governance which you have so clearly displayed during the past four years. Yes, you narrowly missed a foul coup plotted by your adversary which would have destroyed you and your …

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1. Sarath Fonseka lost. We no longer need to stress ourselves to a level requiring medication worrying about what he might do if he wins. We can stop pretending to like him.
2. Mahinda Rajapaksa can never ever run for President again (unless of course he changes the constitution).
3. Stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea, almost 75% of people still went out and voted. That’s always a good thing.
4. Almost 2% of the people voted for someone other than Mahinda and Sarath. That’s just awesome. We haven’t seen that in some time.
5. Compared to landslide victories in recent provincial council polls, 57.88% is a significant drop in popularity for the Rajapakse Government. (E.g. from 72.39% to 58.59% in Uva) This trend could hurt …
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Dear Mr. President,

I’d like to congratulate you in advance for your impending victory of the Presidential election in the following days to come. With the SLFP consolidating their power through the provincial council polls in the aftermath of the war, a presidential re-election and another term with you as President seems inevitable.

The potential in Sri Lanka knows no bounds; therefore boundaries must be clearly drawn so that this potential is not exploited by a few for themselves and for their kith and kin. This has undoubtedly taken place in Sri Lanka time and again, with every administration that has governed the country. This needs to be addressed by the authorities and checks need to come into play. For …

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I’ve been tweeting from around 3am this morning on what’s going on in Colombo after the elections, and in particular what is at the time of writing a rather tense situation around the hotel that presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka is residing in. Leading English mainstream media websites are crashing under the heavy load of web traffic, so mirrored links to key articles appearing in them about the current situation are also provided.

See all the updates on the Twitter feed of Groundviews.

The presidential campaigns concluded officially a day ago and the “Programme for Protection of Public Property” (4P) calculated and exposed the cost of advertisements by each of the two main presidential candidates. Incumbent president as UPFA candidate had spent LKR 377.9 million says 4P, while the UNF-JVP Common Candidate had spent LKR 80.5 million. The actual cost of running these mega campaigns are, far in excess of these calculated millions on advertisements. Advertising is only a part of the total campaign budgets. The total campaign costs may have been twice or even thrice the advertisement budget. Now, from where did these monies come ?

This is written on the day before January 26th the day of presidential polls that would neither …

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We feature this video captured by Groundviews today without any additional comment because it is abundantly clear which candidate the sign stapled on to this anomalous polling card refers to. It is also very clear what such an indication outrageously and completely illegally attached to a polling card implies.

As this voter asks in the video, who has the power to commit such a gross violation of election laws?

Click here for high resolution image of this polling card.

An English transcript of the video follows:

I am Prasanna Perera. I live in Kottawa, …

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“We vote to get president. We get president. But where our vote, we don’t know” was a line that I had saved from a news report on the Iranian presidential polls in June 2009. What ever the man on a Teheran street wanted conveyed, it meant the presidential election results and their voting had no compatibility.

What will it be here after 2010 January 26 presidential elections ? The election campaign here in SL is now “officially” over. Yet, there is campaigning going on. What would the result be ? Will it be “we get president. But where’s our vote” story ? Just 02 days more for the polls, what could the answer be ? Those who said, “it could be …

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“And then I knew what to do.
I made a model of you,
A man in black with a Meinkampf look

And a love of the rack and the screw.
And I said I do, I do.”

“Daddy” by Sylvia Plath

If you can’t take my word for it, take that of Eric Hobsbawm, regarded not only as Britain’s greatest living historian but as ‘one of the outstanding historians of our age’ (Independent on Sunday). The Guardian says “Hobsbawm is one of the leading authors of the concepts and language in which all of us now discuss our situation”. It is indeed his language and concepts that help us understand why Mahinda Rajapakse is certainly my choice for president this time, given the choices available. …

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This note concerns the forthcoming Presidential election in Sri Lanka, due on 27 January 2010. As several insightful articles on the polls have already appeared on Groundviews, all I propose here is to give a brief ‘view from afar’, i.e. perceptions from a citizen living away, who will unfortunately not be able to cast his vote during what could be described as the most crucial of elections since the enactment of the 1978 Constitution of the Second Republic.

As many writers have outlined here and elsewhere, it is an election where many a Sri Lankan finds him/herself in a dilemma over casting their vote. The two main contenders highlight their respective roles in the military offensive leading to the decimation of …

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The 5th Presidential election in Sri Lanka is heading towards a photo finish. In this context once again the Tamil issue has become the political football in Sri Lankan politics. Let’s have a look at few recent election news headlines:

• “Defeat secret pact between Fonseka and Sampanthan; Give verdict against betrayal; Will never allow rebirth of LTTE – Rajapaksa”
• “On 27th I will abolish Rajapaksa – Douglas Agreement – Fonseka”
• “We challenge Fonseka to accept unitary state” – JHU, Rajapaksa camp
• “LTTE suspects released for President’s ‘support’ – Lanka Truth, Fonseka camp

There was a time that ethnic conflict and war in Sri Lanka was nicknamed as ‘the injury of the beggar’. Political parties were making use of the war to remain in power rather …

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Citizens are living through a politically decisive week with just days to elect Sri Lanka’s next Executive President. The next elected Chief Executive, unlike his predecessors, will acquire a unique place in the island’s political history as the country’s first post war president.  In many ways, it is an honour. It also comes with attendant problems, multiple challenges and unique opportunities.

As a violently fought campaigns draws to a close casting aside any hope of a free and fair poll, the main political platforms demonstrate a disappointing quality in their failure to address crucial issues that need urgent attention, a process that is mandatory to ensure the transition of a nation after 30 years of a protracted war.

Burden on state coffers
For …

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Colombo, 22 January 2010: Today marks exactly 250 days since Sri Lanka’s civil war officially ended on 18 May 2009.

On that momentous day, all Lankans shared at least one sentiment: a huge sense of relief. Many among us were euphoric, while some of us chose to be cautiously optimistic. It certainly was a defining moment, just like the tsunami had been four and a half years earlier.

In an emotionally charged essay written within 24 hours, I said: “I hope we can once again resume our long suspended dreams for a better today and tomorrow.” I later found that I had spoken for many.

We all knew the hard-won peace had to be nurtured and consolidated. We also realised just …

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