Presidential Election 2019

Image: Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. (AP/ File) In Sri Lanka, with the longest history of universal suffrage in Asia, every election excites the nation, and that will be the case with the upcoming parliamentary polls. Less than a fortnight after Sri Lanka’s November 16 presidential elections, the country is faced with two realities. One, a […]

social media users erroneously believe that Katuwapitiya is a part of the Negombo electorate These messages were not only degrading the people of Negombo, but were also an insult to those who had been killed These hate mongers went as far as to say that those voters who voted for Sajith were terrorists. Any Sri […]

Sri Lanka Brief Presidential Election Update No 02. Polarised vote The president elect Gotabaya Rajapaksa (GR) of SLPP and Sajith Premadasa (SP) of NDF respectively received 52.25% & 41.99 of the total votes polled in the presidential election held on 16 November 2019.  This numbers could be misleading. The result shows unprecedented level of polarisation […]

Image: European Union (EU) election observers look on as election officials carry ballot boxes to be transferred to a main counting centre after the presidential election voting centres closed, in Colombo (AFP) Sri Lanka’s eighth presidential election, with a record number of 35 candidates vying for the highest office of the state, concluded on Sunday. While […]

Image: Gotabaya Rajapaksa met with  India’s external affairs minister S. Jaishankar on 20 Nov 2019. The Indian government expects Sri Lanka’s new government led by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to take forward the process of national reconciliation in order to meet the aspirations of the Tamil minority for “equality, justice, peace and dignity”. This was the […]

(Press Release 23.11.19) Regarding the removal of the Director of the Criminal Investigation Department, SSP Shani Abeysekara As Sri Lanka Young Journalists’ Association (YJA), we are displeased that National Police Commission; an independent commission established by the 19th Amendment to the Constitution has made a decision to transfer the CID Director SSP Shani Abeysekara as the […]

In his inaugural speech the newly elected President Gotabaya Rajapaksa gave an assurance that he will be the president of all, including all ethnicities and religions and those who did not vote for him.  This assurance is especially important as the recently concluded presidential election was divisive and along communal lines.  The National Peace Council […]

“Accepting our request and rejecting the call to boycott or to vote for a Tamil candidate and by voting for Mr. Sajith Premadasa the Tamil people have sent a clear message to the leaders of our country and to the international community, that the Tamil people are firm in achieving their rights, within a united […]

Sri Lanka’s eighth presidential election held last Sunday has produced an outcome that has surprised the winners, the losers as well as the observers. The most obvious, and arguably disquieting, and utterly unanticipated trend that became immediately visible is the re-sharpening of the majority-minority divide in the citizens’ electoral choices across the country. Mr Gotabhaya […]

Sri Lanka’s newly elected president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his government must demonstrate that they will uphold human rights and rule of law, and ensure that Sri Lanka sustains its international obligations and commitments to justice and accountability, said the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) today. Gotabaya Rajapaksa faces credible allegations of involvement in war crimes […]

Asian Election observers faulted both private and State Media organisations for favouring their chosen candidates during the elections and suggested they should self-regulate themselves. The Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL), an international election observation organization based in Asia, observed that while the presidential election ended in a largely peaceful and orderly manner, it witnessed […]

With Gotabaya Rajapaska claiming victory in the presidential elections, how does one understand the Northern vote? The Northern electoral districts of Jaffna and Vanni with just around 5% of the population of the country are marginal in determining electoral outcome except in very close electoral races. Nevertheless, for a country that has gone through a […]

Image: Gotabaya Rajapaksa is one of the nine Rajapaksa brothers who have dominated Sri Lankan politics. Photograph: Eranga Jayawardena/AP. Even his own family nickname him “The Terminator”. Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the 70-year-old retired lieutenant colonel who will be Sri Lanka’s next president, has built his reputation on being efficient and ruthless, whether that was in his role in […]

In the wake of his younger brother Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s victory in the presidential election 2019, former strong man Mahinda Rajapaksa issued a statement on their immediate plans. They include (between the lines  reforming or removing the 19th amendment,  action to deliver justice for the persons persecuted for  corruption  and human rights violations since 2015 and steps to stop Tamil […]

Image: Gotabaya Rajapaksa released an interview with Iraj on 14th November. Tough all campaigning for the 2019 presidential election came to an end at midnight on Wednesday (13), election propaganda activities continued widely over social media during the so-called “silent period” in direct violation of election laws. Social media such as Facebook and Twitter were […]

Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who spearheaded the brutal crushing of Tamil Tigers a decade ago, stormed to power Sunday but promised to be a president for all Sri Lanka’s races and religions after a divisive election. Seven months after Islamist extremist attacks that killed 269 people, Rajapaksa was elected on Saturday on the back of a nationalist […]

Image: A protest against the attack on Lasantha Wijeratne. Freelance journalist Lasantha Wijeratne became the recent addition to the long list of Sri Lankan journalists who has faced intimidation and threats in the line of duty. Just three days prior to the country heading to yet another decisive Presidential poll, Wijeratne was attacked on Thursday […]

Sri Lanka goes to the polls on Saturday to choose its next president, with the winner expected to steer the ship of state for at least the next five years. The winning candidate in this strategically located South Asian nation can be an indicator of the outcome in parliamentary elections that follow early next year, […]

Editorial, Daily FT. The Election Commission is one of the key institutions central to Sri Lanka’s democracy. Sri Lankans have stayed true to their power to exercise their franchise for over 70 years and for this reason the country is categorised as one of Asia’s oldest democracies. Therefore efforts to discredit the Election Commission, especially […]

Voters still reeling from the devastating Easter Sunday attacks must choose between two powerful political families. Hannah Ellis-Petersen South Asia correspondent./theguardian. What is happening? Sri Lanka goes to the polls on Saturday for a presidential election that will be a decisive moment for its future. The country is still reeling from the Easter Sunday bombings […]

In Sri Lanka, a Tamil MP has requested the Election Commission and the Inspector General of police to investigate into a news report published by three newspapers and also sent a defamation notice to the newspapers. Tamil National Alliance (TNA) spokesperson MA Sumanthiran was quoted saying that Tamil people should vote for Sajith Premadasa in […]

13 November 2019, Colombo, Sri Lanka: The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) and the Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) are deeply concerned with recent developments that may impact the Presidential Election due on 16th November. These stem from recent media reports that highlight to several anomalies with the affidavit submitted by Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa, candidate of […]

“At times media freedom is used to forget what is necessary for the country, what should be done for society… Similarly if we do not get the support of the courts we cannot do this. Every institution must realise this…. ‘Human Rights’, ‘Media Freedom’, various ideas such as these are given to us by The […]

As Sri Lankans head to the polls to elect a new president on 16 November, Gotabaya Rajapaksa stands as the widely acknowledged front runner. As defence secretary during his brother Mahinda Rajapaksa’s decade-long presidency ending in 2015, he was a leading figure in a government that many minority Tamils and Muslims, as well as opposition […]

FILE- In this May 23, 2008 file photo, Sri Lankan journalists shout slogans during a protest demanding the government investigate into abduction and assault of fellow journalist Keith Noyahr in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Forced to flee their country a decade ago to escape allegedly state-sponsored killer squads, Sri Lankan journalists living in exile doubt they’ll […]

The Presidential election to elect the 7th Executive President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is to be held on the 16th of November 2019. The deadline for candidates and political parties to campaign for the Presidential Election, including electronic and print media, ends at midnight today. However, all the candidates that are contesting […]

Image: Sri Lanka’s elections chief Mahinda Deshapriya displays ballot boxes that will be used in the upcoming presidential election in Colombo, Sri Lanka on Thursday, October 31, 2019. The voting is scheduled to be held on November 16.  © 2019 AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena. (New York) – The winner of Sri Lanka’s presidential election on November 16, 2019 will face enormous challenges to […]

 The Global Tamil Forum (GTF) urges Tamil people from the North-East and throughout Sri Lanka to freely exercise their franchise at the November 16 Presidential Election, giving careful consideration to the political formations and agendas of the major contenders.  After playing a decisive role in the political change of 2015 and experiencing disappointments on the […]

I condemn in the strongest possible terms your desperate attempt to drag the Venerable Mahanayake Theras of the Three Nikayas into your fearmongering election campaign. On Wednesday, you publicly appealed to these Venerable Prelates to inject themselves into a political debate on your behalf by manipulating and misrepresenting the letter and spirit of my election […]

Who is winning? This seems to be the question many people these days are keen to find an answer to. Whenever this question is put to me, my usual answer is one that disappoints the interlocutor: “It is difficult to say. But I can tell you a little bit about what I speculate as the […]