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COVID-19 becomes major factor in August 5 polls campaign

COVID-19 becomes major factor in August 5 polls campaign

 PM denies any second wave, but opposition parties likely to turn upsurge into political issue  UNP releases manifesto, outlines measures to deal with pandemic and revive the economy  Minister seeks death penalty for police officers involved in massive narcotics operations  SLPP frontliners hit out at former president and SLFP; questions over post-election situation and portfolios [...]

Shades of blue make it through

Shades of blue make it through

My dear Mahinda maama, I thought I should write to you even though I know you must be busy with your election campaign and your attempt to win a two-thirds majority on the fifth of August, when I heard some comments made by another Mahinda, Mahinda Amarey, who is also from your neck of the [...]

SLFP in sideline battles on other fronts also

SLFP in sideline battles on other fronts also

For the now emaciated Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the August 5 parliamentary elections campaign is not the only task. It has opened up several other fronts at the same time. The political commentary in our issue today reveals how a ding-dong battle between the SLFP and its stronger partner the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna [...]

COVID-19 second wave – a whole of country effort needed

COVID-19 second wave – a whole of country effort needed

The past week has been consumed by the question of whether a second wave of COVID-19 has hit Sri Lanka, or is it imminent in future. Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa however has ruled out the possibility of a second wave with the remark that the second wave is only found on Opposition election platforms.   Whether [...]

Elections: Get on your marks

Elections: Get on your marks

Though the UNP leader and some others have called for another postponement of the August 5 parliamentary elections, it is unlikely to happen — at least right now. The Election Commissioner has the starter’s pistol in hand but his finger is not on the trigger. Unless the coronavirus intervenes once more and the Health Ministry’s [...]

External reserves decline as strengths in balance of payments weaken

External reserves decline as strengths in balance of payments weaken

The country’s foreign reserves of US$ 7.6 billion at the end of 2019 have fallen to US$ 6.5 billion at the end of May mainly due to the deteriorating balance of payments. The continued deterioration of the balance of payments in the second half of the year would diminish foreign reserves to a critically dangerous [...]

On myths, worship and a hideously warped ideology

On myths, worship and a hideously warped ideology

If Stalinist Russia, Nazi Germany and the unfolding multiple crises in the United States teach us anything, it is that a country is lost not by a spectacular turn of the coin in a single event but by a series of challenges to the moral resistance of a people, each one a little deadlier than [...]

Govt.’s stark choice: Hold polls or dam COVID’s second wave?

Govt.’s stark choice: Hold polls or dam COVID’s second wave?

Just when it seemed the dreaded COVID cloud had rained its last droplet of plague and misery on the Lankan landscape and had drifted away far beyond the horizon; just when life was starting to totter back to a new normalcy and the nation’s economic hive had begun to buzz again with activity; just when [...]

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