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Home » ColumnsUPFA, NDF all set for do-or-die battle on Jan. 8
Sirisena and common front leaders sign agreements outlining reforms package for first one hundred days Large number of dummy candidates with ulterior motives for presidential poll Rajapaksa confident, says Ranil would have been a better opponent, hits out at Chandrika SLMC likely to split if it does not quit; Fonseka seeks rank of Field Marshal [...]
Buddies, bloom and beyond
My Dear Sajith and Navin, I thought of writing to both of you after seeing Navin return to the Green camp after a few years on the Blue side. That this happened just before an election means that the reasons for the crossover may not be what you say they are. Anyway, the people will [...]
Is the economy an election issue? Do economic policies matter?
Despite the economy being a peripheral issue in the current presidential election campaign, the leader who is elected would fashion future economic policies and there could be significant differences in economic policies depending on who is elected. Will there be continuity of economic policies, continuity with change or a break from recent economic policies? Elections [...]
A hole in this politico’s bucket of tears
There are tears, fears and cheers for politicians as the campaign for the January 8 presidential election goes on amid seasonal festivity. A Minister from an area that provides vegetables and fruits for the dining tables not only in the City but also many other towns literally shed buckets of tears at a public meeting. The [...]
What kinda rock do you use, Navin?
Wonder what kind of supple granite material, malleable to the touch Navin Dissanayake uses to engrave his solemn promises to the nation? Certainly it cannot be a chip of the old stone block kings of yore used to inscribe their edicts and record momentous events for posterity; or even the polished marble his late father [...]
Continuing the fight beyond the presidential election
As in the case of the entrance to the Underworld in Dante’s Inferno, the practice of the law in Sri Lanka should ideally have a warning sign stating ‘abandon hope, all ye who enter here.’ In particular, and only slightly in jest, such a warning should be issued to hopeful new entrants in this day [...]
Maithri must retain some powers to give meaning to the vote
The opposition’s joint election platform took some semblance of a shape during the week with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding by opposition’s ‘common candidate’ Maithripala Sirisena and an assortment of opposition figures and groups on Monday. The main significance of the agreement in practical terms would lie in Sirisena’s deal with UNP leader [...]