Presidential Election 2015

The Supreme Court yesterday called for the Auditor General’s report pertaining to distribution of “Sil Redi” (fabrics used by devotees to observe sill) during the 2015 Presidential election campaign and directed the Attorney General to submit the concerned report in Court on or before March 31. The Supreme Court two-Judge-Bench comprising Chief Justice K. Sripavan […]

January 8 is remembered for change. First there was the brutal killing in broad daylight of Journalist and Editor Lasantha Wickramatunga who stood out exposing the excesses of the Rajapaksa regime. Lasantha was killed in a high -security environment near an armed forces installation. He died brave and unbowed. By the Aluth Avurudda in April […]

( Ranil W. held the key in common candidate selection) Victory never falls from the sky. In politics victories are produced when the conditions for meaningful and effective struggle mature and more importantly those who struggle are empowered by single minded determination, unity of purpose, coherence, coordination and synergy in action, and visionary leadership. It […]

Today this column records the true story of Mahinda Rajapaksa’s recent photograph released to the Facebook by his son Namal in which Mahinda was seen standing on his head. Namal uploaded this photograph to show that his 70-year-old father was still fit as a fiddle. On the contrary, the common man in society viewed it […]

The passage of the second reading of the budget by a 2/3 majority in Parliament is an indication that the National Unity Government led by President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe continues to be strong. Although the SLFP component of the government headed by President Sirisena is divided, with a majority of the […]

Tax experts and economic analysts cautioned that the country’s economy may take a dip similar to Greece which needed bail outs to avoid defaults on foreign borrowings. Sri Lanka’s foreign borrowing on high interest rates by the former regime have gone into colossal amounts which would be passed on to the people who will have […]

It was the post-presidential election period this year that saw dramatic changes in the polity. The fear of government backed death squads and mob violence was totally eradicated to the relief of political dissidents and ethnic minorities who had been under threat. These positive changes at the ground level were accompanied by the major political […]

The Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC) is the latest state owned institution that is reported to have fallen into the category of cash strapped establishments under the Rajapaksa regime. Similar to other state media organizations, the SLRC has also incurred huge losses during the last presidential election campaign thanks to the suba anagathayak policy of […]

(President Maithripala Sirisena of Sri Lanka addresses the general debate of the General Assembly’s seventieth session. UN Photo/Cia Pak) 30 September 2015 – After years of conflict, “a new era of democracy” dawned in Sri Lanka this year, ushering in justice, freedom and equality, the country’s President told the United Nations General Assembly today, reporting […]

NEW DELHI – Sri Lanka’s parliamentary election this month promises to shape not only the country’s political future, but also geopolitics in the wider Indian Ocean region, a global center of trade and energy flows that accounts for half of the world’s container traffic and 70% of its petroleum shipments. The country’s strategic importance has […]

The demand for the dissolution of parliament is getting increasingly compelling. Civil society leaders, such as the Ven Maduluwave Sobitha, who led the movement for good governance during the presidential elections have come out strongly to insist that President Maithripala SIrisisena should use his presidential powers to dissolve parliament and hold the much anticipated general […]

( Rajapaksa campaigning with film stars) President Maithripala Sirisena, breaking his silence for the first time, has told SLFP seniors that former President Mahinda Rajapaksa cannot be nominated as the UPFA’s prime ministerial candidate because he had been rejected by the people for running  a lawless and corrupt government. “How do you expect me to […]

The new Sri Lankan government must make reconciliation a top priority in order to move the country past a brutal, decades-long civil war. By Shashank Iyer. “Now we are thinking in a different way,” Kopalapillai Amirthalingam, a senior lecturer at the University of Colombo, declares. “The government is trying to correct things.” The cautioned optimism […]

A US State Department official is to visit Sri Lanka this week to study the state of the media following the January 8 elections. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Eileen O’Connor will have talks in Sri Lanka with Government officials and the media during her visit, officials told the Colombo […]

Leading civil society organizations and actors have called for an urgent parliamentary election to overcome the current political deadlock. * In a joint statement 17 organizations and 52 reputed activists have collectively claimed that, it is more than a month after the 23 April 2015, the date promised for the dissolution of Parliament in the […]

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon appreciated the new Government’s forward march under the leadership of President Maithripala Sirisena, which builds peace and reconciliation in the country while protecting democratic rights of the People. He made these observations in a telephone conversation with the President today (4). He also commended the firm commitment by President Sirisena […]

“Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall” “Excellent joke!” Whether this is a Ranil-Sirisena (R&S) government or an S&R one, is significant. It certainly started off with all the trumps and partnership seniority in Ranil’s hands, but time and completion of the 100-Day tasks has moved the equation into an S&R domain; so […]

The domestic mechanism to investigate allegations over the war will be in place by June, President Maithripala Sirisena said. He also said that  a new Parliament will be in place by September this year. Speaking to media heads today, the President said that international investigators will not be allowed into Sri Lanka to investigate the […]

Sri Lanka appeared to turn a new leaf with the election in January 2015 of President Maithripala Sirisena. This put an end to rule of this country of 21 million people by Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is closely associated with a brutal 2009 victory over the Tamil Tiger insurgency and authoritarian government. Alan Keenan discusses how […]

Joint Statement/ International Media Assessment Mission to Sri Lanka. 14 May 2015. The International Media Assessment Mission to Sri Lanka visited Sri Lanka from 8 to 14 May 2015 to assess the media freedom situation in the country,including Jaffna. The International Mission was represented by ARTICLE 19, Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD), International Federation […]

(The Maithripala Sirisena government in Sri Lanka wins appreciation in its initial months, but it’s not all smooth-sailing just yet.) Sri Lanka’s new leader Maithripala Sirisena won an election against all odds. He now seems determined to unite majority Sinhalese and minority Tamils, who have known decades of ethnic tension and war. Many promises, which […]

by Rajan Philips. If there is ever a time for political leadership to act in disregard of consensus, it is now. There was a time in Sri Lankan politics when that master rhetorician Colvin R. de Silva presaged the governing style of the SLFP-LSSP-CP United Front as one that would be “characterized not by consensus […]

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena appealed Thursday for support for legislation to check the enormous powers of the presidency, one of his key election pledges. In a televised address to the nation as his government marked 100 days in power, Sirisena asked lawmakers to “become a partner to strengthen the […]

At the conclusion of the 100 day programme of Sri Lanka’s new Government we thought it would be timely to issue an update to Sri Lanka Campaign yardstick document, which attempts to track the extent of meaningful change with respect to Sri Lanka’s human rights situation. Shortly after the election of President Maithripala Sirisena and […]

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and former Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa have been asked to report to the Bribery Commission (BC) this week to record statements over various allegations against them, highly placed sources said. They said Gotabhaya Rajapaksa was asked to report to the BC on Wednesday, April 22 and 23 while the former President […]

By Nirmala Kannangara. Questions have been raised as to who gave orders to Sri Lanka Customs to allegedly re-export an illegal consignment of Red sandalwood (Red Sanders) worth several billions of rupees secretly last month. Sri Lanka Customs on February 21, 2014 detained 10, 000 Mt tons of Red Sanders which was declared as Calcium […]

It is amidst an impending parliamentary election that more details of abuses and irregularities at the January presidential election are now emerging. A shocking revelation is how the assets of Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) were allegedly used like a local taxi service by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, his family members and a few onetime […]

[journalists protest in Jaffna against suppression – file photo] New York, April 9, 2015-A freelance journalist for a Tamil-language daily in Sri Lanka has been charged in connection with a story he wrote that criticized the police, according to news reports and the paper’s editor, who spoke to the Committee to Protect Journalists. N. Logathayalan, […]

Q;What are your remarks about the 19th Amendment? A: The 19th Amendment that was gazetted has now been presented to Parliament. In the meantime the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the second set of changes to the 19th Amendment. They have shared it with leaders of other parties and it has also found its way […]

Daya Ratnayake was Gota’s main man. Gota’s wish was Daya’s command. Daya really was just what Gota needed. There wasn’t a thing Daya wouldn’t do for him. He let out battalions of soldiers to attend Gota’s personal tasks, he cleaned his crime scenes, blurred the numbers in his corruption. If Gota wanted to borrow a […]