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• Not a single woman candidate on the nominated list

With thirty-nine inside the stalls, some of them mule and some donkeys, the bets were on the four leading contenders of the contest, namely, Sajith, Ranil, Anura and Namal.

Ranil was aptly allotted as his symbol the gas cylinder as a symbolic reminder to the people of the high prices and power cuts endured by the nation during the dark days of economic collapse. Sarath Fonseka was given the symbol of lantern, to help see more clearly, perhaps. Former Sports Minister, Roshan Ranasinghe, was allotted the bat as his symbol, to make a comeback and loft for a six Cricket Board corruption.

THE FAMILY AFFAIR: Namal’s signing ceremony with father, mother, wife and two Bappies looking on

Outside, past the barricaded street of the Election Office, Ranil told his jubilant supporters, “I stopped radical elements from seizing Parliament and turning the country into another Bangladesh. Give me the vote, and I will guarantee a better future.” Sajith told his SJB supporters: “With the presidential election on September 21, the SJB and Samagi Jana Sandhanaya will, with your strength and support, begin the journey to make winners of all 22 million of this country. We shall dawn the era of the common people.”

SLPP’s last week’s crowned prince, Namal was driven down the street, standing out from the open sunroof of his car—like a conquering hero returning from war—hailed by the cheering masses below, promising to create a new economic and cultural era, inviting all to join him to usher such a new dawn.

The day before, in a bid to squeeze the publicity grape dry, the simple matter of signing the nomination document became a photographed event. President Ranil Wickremesinghe signed on Wednesday at his former Office down Flower Road in Colombo 7, while officials looked on. Anura Kumara signed the previous day at his party headquarters flanked by a team of JVP lawyers. Sajith signed on Thursday at his office, with his wife and child at his side, surrounded by SJB officials.

For newly crowned Namal, however, the signing ritual had to become a public spectacle. The stage-managed hour-long televised video of the crowned prince giving his assent to enter the presidential race, first gave a brief history of the wondrous achievements of his sire Mahinda in whose shadow he walks.

The ceremony was a family affair, with fond papa seated on his chair while mother Shiranthi stood, looking lovingly at her first-born son, and casting him her blessings as only a mother can. Basil Bappi and Gota Bappi stood beside, witnessing the family’s formal Change of Guard, where the family baton seamlessly passed into the anointed son and heir to the Rajapaksa throne. As Namal signed the nomination papers, with faithful party secretary Sagara seated next to him, Buddhist monks recited Seth Pirith to shower blessings on him. Behind them stood the few remaining SLPP minions.

THE PRESENT FRONT RUNNERS: Independent Ranil: SJB’s Sajith; JVP’s Anura join the hopefuls to pip the Presidential post

Only the family’s eldest brother, Chamal, was missing at this family event held at the official Wijerama residence of Mahinda but he later made amends by issuing a statement, appealing to the public ‘to think of Mahinda and vote for Namal’. In Mahinda Rajapaksa’s hope-filled eyes, the whole proceedings would have been tantamount to the swearing-in ceremony of his son, Namal, as the next President of Sri Lanka; and he would have been glad to have still been alive to witness the historic event, even if only in his imagination.

Former Justice Minister, Wijeyadasa, who’s contesting alone, signed the nomination papers alone at home while Buddhist monks chanted pirith.  Maithripala, who had caused him to break ranks with the SLPP and brought him to his splintered group, hailing Wijeyadasa as SLFP’s Chairman and presidential nominee, was, however, nowhere to be seen at this auspicious event.

Where was Maithri? Had he been taken ill? Had he flown to Singapore for rest and a medical checkup? Had he, who had convinced President’s Counsel, Wijeyadasa to heed his advice against all the legal odds that beset his mangled party and contest without fear to break the mould of Lankan politics; had he, who had swayed Wijeyadasa’s mind to cast all legal doubts to the winds and bravely enter the presidential fray, deserted Wijeyadasa’s sinking sail raft? Had he taken him up the garden path and left him there?

The week began for Ranil with a welcome crossover from the SJB camp: Dr. Rajitha Senararatna, the former SLFP MP who had crossed over to Maithri-Ranil’s Yahapalanaya coalition in 2014, and in 2020 had crossed over to Sajith’s SJB. The pact between Ranil and Rajitha took place at Gangaramaya Temple’s Seemamalakaya.

For the last few months, Rajitha had sat on the fence, mulling over crossing to Ranil. Finally on Tuesday, with mind made up, he stepped down from the fence, firmly on Ranil’s side. In his speech, shortly after embracing Ranil, he declared: “I love Sajith. I love his wife, Jalani.  Sajith loves me. He loves my wife. I leave not because I love Sajith less but because I love my motherland more.” With those Shakespearean words of Brutus after stabbing Caesar, Rajitha joined Ranil to build the motherland.

But there was a setback, when the SLPP MP Premalal Jayasekera—who had been sentenced to death in 2020 for the killing of a UNP supporter while erecting a stage for Yahapalanaya presidential candidate Maithripala, and was later acquitted and released by the Court of Appeal during Gota’s regime in 2022—one of the many who had made the grand crossing to Ranil’s camp to pledge unstinted support two weeks ago, abruptly made a U-turn on Tuesday and returned to Mahinda’s fold.

But when Rishad Bathiudeen and his All Ceylon Makkal Congress pledged support to SJB’s Sajith on Wednesday night, making three dissenting MPs, including airport gold smuggler, Ali Shabree Rahim, to cross over to Ranil’s camp on Thursday to pledge their unstinted support to Ranil, he would have felt sufficiently compensated for losing one but gaining three, all in a week of conquests won and conquests lost. When SJB MP Velu crossed to Ranil, the scales of loss and gains tipped in Ranil’s favour.

The President on Friday launched a formal alliance with those who have already joined. In a ceremony held at the Water’s Edge in Battaramulla, over thirty politicians from various political parties and organisations signed an accord ‘Puluwan Sri Lanka’.

For JVP-NPP leader Anura, the swing doors of entry to such pole-vaulting MPs to his cloistered Marxist group, stays permanently shut. He told a press briefing this week, “When we come to power MPs crossing from one party to another will be made illegal,” perhaps, forgetting that the Supreme Court recently set two precedents against this vile practice.

For SJB Sajith, the week began extremely well. With the initial loss of Rajitha who crossed over to Ranil’s abode, many men with a larger vote base sought and found shelter in Sajith’s earthly SJB home.  On Tuesday, another Sri Lankan test captain T.M. Dilshan joined Sajith’s playing field where the cricketing maxim holds, ‘it’s not whether you won or lost but how you played the game’.

He and his wife met at Sajith’s office where they both expressed their heartfelt support to SJB’s captain. Furthermore, that same day, another 27 political parties and civil activist groups joined the Sajith-led Samagi Jana Sandhanaya.

On Wednesday, Champika Ranawaka of the Eksath Janaraja Peramuna joined Sajith’s Samagi Jana Sandhanaya. In a ceremony held at the Grand Monarch in Thalawathugoda, the two leaders signed a pact of agreement.

In his address, Champika said, “76 years of independence have been maliciously distorted by extreme radical groups as being nothing but a curse, where the country was ruled in turns by corrupt politicians who robbed the nation’s wealth. I say to these cussed politicians, look at the free education system which has produced many doctors, engineers and professionals in every field. I say, look at the free health service, staffed by doctors produced by our free universities.  Look at our electricity-generating hydro projects which provide power to nearly every home today. Was it the case 76 years back?”

He said: “Despite insurrections and terrorism during the last 76 years, this country never fell under the shadow of military rule like Bangladesh but remained democratic. India’s renowned author Shivshankar Menon in his noteworthy book ‘Choices,’ clearly identifies the JVP and the LTTE which, by their acts of violence, made the country suffer a loss of 200 billion dollars, more than five times the country’s foreign debt. It’s a historic joke for those responsible for this massive loss, to say today, they can save the country.”

He ended his speech by stating: “I join hands with Sajith and Samagi Jana Sandhanaya to embark on a journey that won’t be easy. But this I promise you. We will not only win the election, but we shall dedicate ourselves to salvage Sri Lanka from debt and create a prosperous future for our youth.” In his power speech, Champika had exposed the rebel group and revealed them in their true light, shorn of the sham pretense and camouflage.

On Wednesday night Rishad Bathiudeen announced that he and the Executive Committee of the All Ceylon Makkal Congress had unanimously agreed to join Sajith’s Samagi Jana Sandhanaya, even as Rauf Hakeem’s Sri Lanka Muslim Congress had joined the Sandhanaya a week earlier when it was first launched. Bathiudeen said: “I’ve only one demand to make from you. It is to prevent communal and religious divides and to bring laws to deal with those who even attempt to do so.”

On Friday, a massive crowd attended Sajith’s inaugural campaign rally in Kurunegala. A host of Sandhanaya leaders, including Dullas Alahapperuma, Champika Ranawaka, Dayasiri Jayasekera, Rishad Bathiudeen, and Sri Lanka Test cap T.M. Dilshan who joined Sajith this week, also spoke at this kick-off election campaign rally.

On Thursday after the nomination process had finally ended, Ranil visited the Sri Dalada Maligawe to pay his respects to the temple’s Chief Monk and obtain the blessings of the Triple Gem. On the same day, SJB’s Sajith visited Colombo’s Gangaramaya temple to pay homage to the temple’s Chief Monk, Assaji Thera who, with other monks, recited ‘seth pirith’ at the temple’s Bo Tree to shower the manifold blessings of the Triple Gem. The following morning, hours before his maiden campaign rally in Kurunegala was due to start, Sajith visited the Sri Dalada Maligawe to pay his respects to the temple’s Chief Monk and obtain the blessings of the Triple Gem.

Prior to handing in his nomination papers, Namal had visited Colombo’s Gangaramaya temple to pay his respects to the temple’s Chief Monk and obtain the blessings of the Triple Gem. On Friday he and his father, with an SLPP retinue, visited Ruwanweli Saya where a ’pinkama’ was held to obtain the blessings of the Triple Gem.

Each of the four main candidates followed the rites and age-old religious customs, ingrained in every Buddhist heart, as rites and customs to be followed at the start of a major auspicious endeavour. But where was the fourth outsider? The irreligious secular dark horse?

It was, indeed, a surprise appearance that the radical JVP-NPP leader Anura Kumara made when, following in the same conventional religious footsteps of Ranil, Sajith and Namal, he appeared on Friday at the entrance to the Sri Dalada Maligawe, which the JVP bombed on February 8th, 1989.

The JVP leader Anura Kumara who shuns religions and their practices, as Karl Marx shunned religions and called it ‘the opium of the masses’, appearing at the Sri Dalada Maligawe, piously carrying an ‘Ata Pirikara’ to the temple’s Chief Monk, is nothing more than a naked, blatant attempt to exploit the sacred Sri Dalada to gain political mileage on the virtual eve of the presidential contest.

Wonder if he told the temple’s Chief monk, a hollow meaningless ‘sorry’ for JVP bombing the sacred Dalada Maligawe in 1989 to make the sham replete? The JVP cannot humbug the people all the blooming time.

A significant factor in this race is that, in a country that boasts the first executive Prime Minister in the world and the first executive woman President in Sri Lanka, no single woman candidate aspires to become President.

The race for the Presidency has now begun and the runners are off in this marathon course that will take 25 days to complete, at the end of which the winner will be crowned President of Sri Lanka.

 May the best right man win!