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Hardly had the nominations for the parliamentary elections been handed over, political parties began planning on how they would be part of a future government.

Some of the smaller parties, contesting with the major parties, have approached the National People’s Power led by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and told him that they were ready to extend support to a future government.

The parties that approached the NPP hierarchy have been told that it was too early to decide if they would need their support.

The parties, therefore, have been forced to hold back their plans while going ahead with their campaigns. Their theme is ‘a vote for us is a vote for the JVP/NPP,” which might not be exactly what the JVP/NPP wants from them as it only deprives it of whatever votes canvassed by others.

British High Commissioner Andrew Patrick showing his surprise find during the beach clean-up

From front page to the bin: British envoy’s beach experience

British High Commissioner Andrew Patrick was at a beach cleaning advocacy event with a local youth group on Mount Lavinia beach recently.

During the programme, where various objects were collected by the group, the High Commissioner also came across something he did not expect—a discarded newspaper with his picture on it.

The envoy took to the social media platform X to share his experience and said the incident was “a good reminder to be humble—in the news one day and in the bin the next. We all need to do our part to keep the planet clean. #KeepSriLankaClean” he wrote.

Attack on Lankan peacekeepers draws global condemnation

The recent incident in which two Sri Lankan peacekeepers serving with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) suffered injuries due to an attack by Israeli forces on Friday came under severe criticism by the international community, including both the United States and Britain. They urged Israel to stop targeting peacekeepers.

A Defence Ministry source said that one of the Lankan soldiers had to undergo surgery and is recovering while pointing out that the attack was the second within 24 hours from Israeli airstrikes.

Hours later, the Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the attack, saying, “Sri Lanka upholds the obligations to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel and the inviolability of UN premises at all times.”

Along with other Western leaders, Britain’s Middle East and North Africa Minister Hamish Falconer took to the microblog platform X, previously known as Twitter, to condemn the attack while calling for an immediate ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel.

One fellow UK citizen responded to his tweet: Maybe stop giving weapons to the people attacking the UN repeatedly.

ITAK breakaway group leaders carrying a basket of mangoes meet ITAK's elder statesman Mavai Senathirajah to obtain his blessings

ITAK splinter group in mango politics

The grand old Tamil political party, Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchchi (ITAK), is grappling with splinter groups who quit the party after their applications were rejected by the party’s selection committee.

One such group led by K.V. Thavarasa along with ex-MP E. Saravanabavan formed a new outfit and handed over their nominations on Friday under the mango symbol. After filing nominations, they went to obtain blessings from former ITAK leader Mavai Senathirajah, who just days before had declared that he was stepping down from party leadership.

The group arrived at his residence in Kankesanthurai with a bunch of mangoes in a basket as a gift to him and made sure to take photographs.

Sabry describes as nonsensical the rejection of YouTuber’s nomination list

As election nominations were closed by Friday noon, popular YouTuber Ashen Senarathna went live on his social media channels criticising the rejection of his independent group’s nomination by election officials in Colombo.

He claimed that his independent group’s nomination was rejected on the basis that it was handed over by an unauthorised individual. Just like his usual content, his lamenting video also became viral in the afternoon as social media users were divided on their opinion of the application of the law.

Former Cabinet Minister Ali Sabry was quick to declare on his social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, saying, “This is absolute nonsensical interpretation of the law,”

It was just last week, Mr. Sabry announced that he returned to the bar after a short stint in politics with a caption saying, “Feels good to be back where I belong” along with a photo of his legal team.

Hours later, Mr. Sabry came up with a mini write-up with many rhetorical questions criticising the decision by election officials. In one instance he asks: “How can it be acceptable to accept the papers, wait until the deadline lapses, and then reject the entire list? Is it the public duty of an election official to accept and then invalidate without giving a chance to correct the error? Even if there was one.

“This is about democracy and the people’s right to choose their leaders, not about individual candidates or parties.  Procedures matter, but the Election Commission’s role is to ensure fair representation, not obstruct it with overly rigid interpretations of the law,” he said.

Major setback for Rajapaksas in their home base

The upcoming parliamentary polls showed the exit doors to several long-time politicians in Parliament, but in Hambantota, in particular, it was a major setback for the Rajapaksa dynastic politics as no Rajapaksa family members are contesting from the district for the first time since 1947.

Throughout the decades, the family made sure at least one of them from the clan was in the Parliament.

It all started with D.A. Rajapaksa, who contested the first general election in 1947 under the Soulbury Constitution and won the Beliatta electorate; then successfully got himself elected in 1952 and 1956, but lost his seat in March 1960. But he regained the seat in the same year as parliamentary polls were held for the second time that year.

In 1960, George Rajapaksa, son of D.M. Rajapaksa, was also elected to Parliament. He was later a Minister of Fisheries and Health. Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, son of D.A. Rajapaksa, was elected from the same electorate in 1970 and lost in the 1977 polls. Thereafter, he was re-elected in all parliamentary polls from the South except in the last parliamentary elections, where he contested from the Kurunegala district.

Herath prefers PhD to seat in Parliament

Looking at the finalised nomination lists of the political parties, it is certain that the next Parliament is going to have a significant number of new, young faces, as many long-time career politicians have opted to retire or not to contest the upcoming parliamentary polls.

Many of them came up with different reasons for their decisions, ranging from old age to ‘paving the way for the young generation’. However, former State Technology Minister Kanaka Herath, who had also decided not to contest the polls, made it very clear what he would do next.

“As I understand, people wanted change at any cost. Therefore, I believe I need to take a step back at this juncture,” the son of veteran politician Maheepala Herath said.

“So, I will be using this time to pursue my engineering career, complete my PhD at the University of Moratuwa, and spend some quality time with my family.”

More concessions for students using state buses

The new Transport Minister, Vijitha Herath, has intervened to provide relief to schoolchildren, technical college students, and undergraduates using monthly season tickets provided at concessionary rates to travel in state-run buses.

The students and undergraduates will now be able to make use of the season ticket on the weekends and other holidays as well.

This facility was provided by the 1977 UNP government but later withdrawn because the state-run transport services were suffering losses.

However, it was a relief to parents at that time as the children made use of the season tickets to travel for tuition classes and visit the library over the weekend.

Minister Herath has instructed the
Sri Lanka Transport Board chairman to revive the facility for students.