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Home » NewsCelebrating Pohottuwa’s crackerjack victory
SLPP supporters celebrating the party’s historic victory by lighting crackers. This scene at Gunasinghepura in Pettah was one of several such celebrations countrywide. Pic by Lahiru Harshana
President restricts Cabinet to 26; PM to be sworn in today
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa will swear-in a Cabinet of Ministers numbering 26 next Friday (August 14) and not avail himself of a Constitutional provision that allows him to enlarge his Cabinet if he opts to go in for a National Government with parties outside the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) alliance. The 19th Amendment to the [...]
Central Bank prints money to the value of Rs. 450 billion from February to July
The Central Bank has printed money totaling more than Rs. 450 billion up to July since the last week of February this year. It has pumped Rs. 164.9 billion in March and another Rs. 92.5 billion in April, totaling more than Rs. 257 billion in these two months alone, informed source said. In the meantime, [...]
Sajith not interested in UNP; Ranil says ‘No’ to National List
United National Party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday ruled out any possibility of appointing himself as the sole National List MP from his party, saying it, however, did not mean he was quitting public life altogether. He told the Sunday Times that the party seniors were still discussing whom to appoint as the party’s National List [...]
Political parties delay decisions on National List MPs
Political parties struggling to finalise their nominees on the national list are delaying their decisions. The Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) which has seven national list positions was asked to include a nominee from Mano Ganesan’s party. The party nominee was former Nuwara Eliya district parliamentarian Mylvaganam Thilakarajah, who had stepped out of the contest after [...]
Strict health regulations for Parliament’s first session on August 20
The number of visitors, dignitaries and members of the media who will be in attendance at the first session of the Ninth Parliament on August 20 has been severely curtailed owing to the COVID-19 prevention guidelines. There are 674 seats in the visitors’ gallery, 96 seats in the VIP section and 65 in the media [...]
Indian HC meets Premier Rajapaksa
Indian High Commissioner Gopal Baglay called on the Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday to congratulate him on the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna’s victory at Wednesday’s general elections. A statement from the Indian High Commission said Mr. Baglay during his meeting with Mr. Rajapaksa recalled that Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi had complimented the people and [...]
Clean sweep
SLPP supporters not only celebrated their party’s sweeping victory by sharing kiribath, but they also swept the streets to make sure that the remnants of the crackers they lit did not litter the streets. Pix by Lahiru Harshana
What a motley crew in our August assembly
In 2015, the Yahapalana Government gained power largely on a promise to eradicate corruption and establish good governance. The administration backed multiple investigations against members of the Mahinda Rajapaksa Government. Before long, however, it was embroiled in its own scandals. Today, many of those against whom allegations were made and cases opened are back in [...]
Lankans in Lebanon recount their experience of the blast
Chandani Swarnalatha was in the kitchen when the first blast occurred. “It sounded like the sound came from the sky so I ran onto the balcony to look,” she said, via telephone from Lebanon. “Then, in ten seconds, the second explosion happened.” She was thrown back into the house, said Swarnalatha, a 57-year-old from Galagedara [...]
Army foils bid to smuggle cardamom and turmeric
An attempt to smuggle in more than 500 kilograms of cardamom and turmeric was foiled by an army intelligence unit based in Kalpitiya yesterday. The cardamom and turmeric stocks were being brought in fishing boats from India and the raid was carried out on a tipoff the intelligence unit received. The estimated value of the [...]
Voters brave COVID fear: Lanka shows how elections can be held amid pandemic
Fears of low turnout owing to COVID-19 proved unfounded as voters swarmed out for Wednesday’s 2020 Parliamentary elections. The first poll to be conducted in South Asia amidst a global pandemic is testimony to the organisational skills of the Election Commission which was assisted by numerous others like Government officials, police and, this time, the [...]
A third of MPs from previous House not voted back
Sri Lankan political giants such as Former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, the current leader of the United National Party (UNP), with a parliamentary career that started 42 years ago, failed to secure seats in the Colombo district. He was the most prominent of the 74 MPs who lost their seats, most of them from the [...]
Congratulatory messages from near and far via telephone calls and twitter
Regional leaders rushed to wish Mahinda Rajapaksa as his party the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) recorded a landslide victory while congratulatory messages poured in from leading nations. Neighbouring Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Imran Khan both telephoned Mr. Rajapaksa to congratulated him. PM Modi commended the government and the electoral institutions of Sri Lanka [...]
This mandate means business, SLPP told
With its massive bag of 145 of the 225 parliamentary seats, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) has indeed been given a mandate to carry out its policies, other parties accepted while vowing to build up their bases for the next election. The SLPP itself was triumphant, with party Chairman Professor G.L. Peiris saying voters [...]
Over 1000 houses damaged due to adverse weather; more rain forecast in coming days
More rain is forecast for Sri Lanka, especially in the southwestern part of the country, during the next few days due to lower atmospheric turbulence over the country, officials said. Several districts during the week experienced heavy rain accompanied by high winds and lightning. In many affected areas, transport was disrupted by uprooted trees. Disaster [...]
All in the family – father and son duos
There will be four sets of father-son duos in the ninth Parliament of Sri Lanka. Former president Mahinda Rajapaksa and former speaker Chamal Rajapaksa – both sons of the late D.A. Rajapaksa – have been elected to parliament from the Kurunegala and Hambantota districts respectively. Mahinda Rajapaksa’s son, Namal, was elected from Hambantota while Chamal [...]
Politics runs in their blood
Wednesday’s election saw a number of third-generation MPs elected to serve in the 9th parliament of Sri Lanka. Family members of some MPs had even served in the state councils of pre-Independence Ceylon. The Rajapaksa family has the largest number of MPs in the new parliament, with five members elected on the Sri Lanka Podujana [...]
Get to know your new parliamentarians
Jeevan Thondaman- (SLPP- Nuwara Eliya) Born 1994 Involved in politics with his father late Arumugan Thondaman. Followed law degree in India. Served as secretary and later as Chief Deputy Secretary of the Ceylon Workers’ Congress (CWC). Appointed CWC General Secretary following the death of his father in May M. Rameshwaram - (SLPP- Nuwara Eliya) Served [...]
Women a dwindling species of MP
Just 10 women made it into parliament this week, even fewer than in the last election. This means only one in 22 of the new parliament’s 225 MPs are female, a stark contrast with one in two members of the population being female. Eight of the new female candidates were elected directly while two were [...]
TNA admits setback in North East, promises bigger role for party youth
Apparently fed up with rhetorical nationalist party politics and failure to address the urgent needs of the former war torn regions, North and East voters have sent a clear message to their main party the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) at the August 5 general elections. The TNA, officially known as the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi [...]
Last COVID-19 cluster on the wane
The Kandakadu cluster is abating and now COVID-19 confirmed cases are from among those who are returning from abroad, many health sources said. Consultant Physician Dr. Eranga Narangoda – who treated a large number of positive patients at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) and has now moved to the Homagama Base Hospital – [...]
Monitors give thumbs-up for election conduct
This week’s parliamentary elections have been one of the most free and fair polls and unmarred by major post-poll violence, observers said. People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) Executive Director Rohana Hettiarachchi said the election continued a positive trend in the lawful conduct of polls. It is a result for which the Election [...]
Near octogenarian with 60 years of voting recalls polls past
Within close earshot of the bells of St. John’s Panadura lives an almost-octogenarian who has been voting — come hell or high water — at all the elections since those landmark polls of March 1960 which ushered in the era of Sirimavo Bandaranaike. Last Wednesday’s general election saw the silver-haired but impeccably neat Don Ranjan [...]
Going beyond the call of duty
Carrying ballot boxes/bags to the counting centres are among the tasks of election officials, but our cameras spotted, on many occasions, policemen who were deployed to ensure safety and security ending up giving a helping hand with the boxes, putting their main duties on hold. Police officers are deployed to ensure security at polling and [...]
Colourful pageantry sans audience
The Kandy Perahera this year was overflowing with vibrancy and grandeur as usual despite the COVID-19 pandemic. This year the public was not allowed to line up along the perahera route due to health guidelines. Yet the last Randoli Perahera was held on a grand scale, paying homage to the sacred Tooth Relic of Lord [...]
New teachers to take on the reins in national and provincial schools
The Government is to go ahead with a programme to recruit 15,000 more graduate teachers to national and provincial schools in the next few months. The proposal to recruit these teachers was delayed during the past few months, due to the COVID-19 situation and the parliamentary elections, an Education Ministry official said. The focus of [...]