All
ready to go, but will it be this year or next?
"Thaaththa," Bindu Udagedera asked, "what is all
this fuss about an election?"
"It may be a lot of fuss," Bindu's father Percy said,
"but it just goes to show that democracy in this country is
alive and well…"
"Why
do you say that?" Bindu wanted to know.
"Why, people are getting ready for elections and naming their
candidates even before an election has been announced…"
"But, thaaththa," Bindu argued, "that is exactly
the problem, isn't it?"
"Why, what is the problem?"
"We
don't know whether there will be an election or not…"
"Of course, there will be an election…" Percy assured.
"But we don't know whether it will be this year or next year…"
Bindu pointed out.
"That
will be decided quite fairly by the Commissioner of Elections…"
Percy said.
"But, thaaththa, Satellite has now referred that issue to the
Supreme Court…"
"Then, they will decide on that quite fairly, I would think…"
"But just imagine what would happen if they were to decide
that elections would be next year…"
"There
is nothing wrong with that, if that is the right decision…"
Percy pointed out.
"But we already have Ranil and Mahinda both dressed up as candidates
but with nowhere to go until next year…"
"But then," Percy said, "we can have an extended
campaign and decide for ourselves who is the better leader…"
"Well,"
Bindu argued, "it need not be one of them either…"
"Why, who else do you have in mind?"
"Why, the Reds have said they will contest and so have the
Buddhist monks…" Bindu said.
"But they have also said something else…" Percy
observed.
"What is that?" Bindu wanted to know.
"They
have said they might even field a common candidate…"
"How could they?" Bindu asked, "weren't they fighting
with each other until recently?"
"But they say that they think alike when it comes to the North-East
issue…"
"There is some truth in that," Bindu agreed, "but
just imagine the difficulty they will have in trying to select a
joint candidate…"
"I
am not sure whether they will have any difficulty in choosing a
candidate…" Percy said.
"Why do you say that?" Bindu asked, "The Reds will
want their nominee and the Buddhist monks will want their candidate…"
"That
is true" Percy admitted, "but just look at what happened
with the Blues; we all expected them to fall apart with Anura and
Mahinda fighting with each other for the candidacy but that never
happened…"
"Yes,"
Bindu said, "and then it didn't happen with the Greens either
because everyone expected them to fight over the nominee for the
Premier's post but it was given to Karu and no one protested…"
"But of course," Percy suggested, "it shouldn't be
a presidential election that we should be worried about at all…"
"Why
do you say that, thaaththa?" Bindu asked, surprised.
"Don't forget that Satellite herself doesn't want an election
right now…"
"But what can she do?" Bindu argued, "she doesn't
fix the date of the election…"
"But
she can dissolve Parliament and fix the date of the general election…"
Percy said.
Bindu wondered whether Ranil or Mahinda had thought about that.
|
