Sajith Maintains Strong Lead Towards Victory
Ranil Climbs to Second Place in the North
Namal Advances to Secure Third Position
Sajith – Anura in Close Contest Across 10 Districts – Sujith Leads
Sajith’s Victory Approaches
With only three days remaining before the presidential election, voting for the country’s 9th president will start this Saturday morning, and the winner is expected to be declared by the weekend. Today (18th), Mawrata newspaper published a special supplement focusing on the presidential election.
Currently, the public’s attention is on the latest opinion polls leading up to the election. Last week, we shared results from a prominent rating agency and intelligence sources, predicting that opposition leader Sajith Premadasa could secure 37- 40% of the vote, with Anura Kumara Dissanayake in second place at 30-33%. Meanwhile, President Ranil Wickremesinghe is expected to receive 12-15%, and Namal Rajapaksa is likely to gain 10%.
TV Debates
In this context, all eyes turned to last week’s televised debates featuring the presidential candidates. The Compass group had promoted the debates on Sirasa and Derana, where Anura Kumara Dissanayake was scheduled to appear. However, opposition leader Sajith Premadasa declined invitations from both channels, citing concerns about biased coverage. He believed these channels had unfairly promoted Anura while spreading false information about SJB.
False Reports on Tamil Alliance
Despite the Tamil National Alliance’s unanimous decision to back Sajith, Sirasa initially reported a split within the party, claiming its leader, Mavai Senathirajah, opposed supporting Sajith. This led to widespread misinformation across social media, with the UNP fueling the notion that Sajith lacked Tamil Alliance support. However, Mavai later confirmed his agreement with the party’s stance, which prompted Sajith to reject Sirasa’s interview offer.
Sajith’s Appearance on ‘Salakuna’
Instead, Sajith accepted an invitation from Hiru TV for an interview. Interestingly, Derana TV chose to air Anura’s pre-recorded interview at the same time. Despite rumors that Anura’s interview on Derana would be live while Sajith’s would be pre-recorded, both were pre-recorded. Monday night’s interviews attracted significant public interest, with many comparing it to the excitement of a World Cup final.
Namal Outshines Anura
After Anura and Namal appeared on Sirasa TV, a surge of interest followed, with Namal’s interview reportedly garnering more social media views than Anura’s. Malima launched a campaign to promote Anura’s debate, after Anura and Namal participated in the interview on Sirasa TV, they started a big publicity campaign in the ‘bud’. They had said that the Sirasa program in which Anura participated had been viewed by nearly 70,000 people on social media, but the Sirasa program in which Namal participated had more than 106,000 views. Because of this, the ‘Malimava’ team wanted to get an audience response that exceeded that of Sajith to Anura’s discussion, which was aired on the ‘Derana’ channel. They had also taken steps to carry out a separate campaign for that.
Sajith Outpaces Anura
As the debates aired, more viewers tuned in to watch Sajith on Hiru. Forty minutes into the discussions, 135,000 people were watching Sajith, compared to 80,000 watching Anura. By the end of the broadcasts, Sajith’s viewership had reached 255,000, while Anura’s remained at 184,000, marking a clear win for Sajith in the battle for public attention.
Sajith’s Message to the Nation
In his interview, Sajith laid out his vision for the country, delivering a clear message that his victory would not lead to any unrest. He assured that any attempts to incite violence would be met with strict action.
Unclear Outcome
While social media offers insights, it’s not always a reliable indicator of election results. Last week, we received reports from two separate polls suggesting that Anura would secure 10 districts, including Galle, Matara, and Colombo, while Sajith would win key areas like Kandy, Jaffna, and Nuwara Eliya, with over 40% of the vote in some regions.
In addition, according to the last opinion poll conducted by a well-known organization, they claim that Sajith will get 38% of the votes, Anura will get 27% of the votes, Namal will get 15% of the votes and Ranil will get 14% of the votes.
Namal Rises
Polling also indicates a tough battle between President Wickremesinghe and Namal for third place, particularly in districts like Hambantota and Galle. Meanwhile, an opinion poll released last week said that the Jaffna district will be won by the president. But by this week, it has been revealed that Sajith will win all the districts in the north and east.
However, everyone has to be patient for a few more days to know the final result.
Ranil’s Struggles
Meanwhile, the president’s campaign seems to have faltered, with fewer large rallies and more focus on media advertisements. Recent moves to lift vehicle import bans and cut taxes have not appeared to shift voter sentiment in his favour. Furthermore, reports suggest some UNP members, disappointed by Ranil’s performance, are now throwing their support behind Sajith.
No rallies
In addition, by last week, the President’s meetings had collapsed to such an extent that instead of holding massive rallies at the district level, the President’s campaign had collapsed to the extent of holding meetings with young people in Colombo halls. Under such a background, these days the government has lifted the ban on vehicle imports, cut off farm loans, increased wages, cut income taxes, etc., and it is possible to see news published that does not affect the final result of the presidential election. Also, it can be seen from the President’s side that instead of holding meetings, more space has been given to it by posting advertisements in print media and electronic media and by posting large advertisements on social media.
UNP votes for Sajith
In addition to this, it is news to this column that due to the statements made by the President in the last two weeks in a way that is favourable to Anura, the UNP members are now somewhat disappointed with the President and the UNP members who had supported the President so far have decided to vote for Sajith, and since it is confirmed that the president will be defeated, instead of wasting the UNP votes, they have decided to use them for Sajith and after 30 years, they have decided to produce a president for the UNP members.
Political Drama Unfolds
Rumours surrounding political defections and covert strategies continue to swirl. Mrs Talatha Athukorala’s decision to side with Ranil is seen as one factor in her decline. Meanwhile, reports suggest several high-ranking government officials, anticipating a potential defeat, have either left the country or moved sensitive files to avoid future legal scrutiny.
Talatha’s misfortune?
There was also a main reason why Ranil’s downfall started in this way. That reason is none other than Mrs. Talatha Athukorala’s change of sides. Two months ago, we made a special disclosure in the ‘inside politics column’ about the Hydepark Corner conspiracy that led to Talatha’s jump. There we said that a person who fled the country after the 2019 presidential election was behind this Hyde Park conspiracy, and several other SJB MPs were also present in that discussion. It is also heard that this person was willing to join SJB, but after Sajith refused, he removed Talatha from SJB.
We are also ready to reveal a lot of unknown information to the country in the future. However, in the end, only Talatha went to Ranil to accept this man’s offer, but because Ranil’s defeat was certain, no other Member of Parliament went to Ranil. There is no future in sight. Because of this, the person who finally took Talatha to Ranil has left the country once again as in 2019, according to the ‘inside politics column’. Because of this, today Talatha can be seen from the UNP platform saying that the Sjb MPs do not have the backbone to make a decision.
Range Bandara’s Silence
UNP General Secretary Range Bandara, who has been notably absent from the election scene, hinted at a significant political revelation coming after the election. His future disclosures could provide further insight into the inner workings of the current government.
Range’s revelation
Last week, we made a special disclosure about UNP General Secretary Mr Range Bandara through this column. This is what we said there.
This column has heard that a huge revelation is going to happen within the next few days targeting Range Bandara, who was a strong member of the UNP. Recently, various news were published regarding Range Bandara and some reports said that he has been removed from the post of General Secretary of UNP. Also, during the last two weeks, it was not seen that Range Bandara was engaged in the election campaign activities of the President. During the investigation, it was learned that Range has refrained from appearing in public because a serious revelation about him is scheduled to happen in the next few days.
Robbed?
After the last ‘struggle’ season, a lot of politicians’ houses were burnt, and then they had to pay a lot of compensation. In getting this compensation, some people also saw how the struggle had become a source of wealth. It is also news that some ministers have defrauded the public money in a big way while getting compensation. We feel that the fraud is so serious that it is an unforgivable level of fraud and corruption. Accordingly, we have given this hint because a controversial revelation related to this kind of incident is going to happen within the next few days.
A top secret file related to that has now come into the hands of a leader of the opposition, and he is ready to make the disclosure two or three days before the presidential election, according to the Inside Politics column. This column has come to know that various news such as ‘Range was sacked as UNP General Secretary’, ‘Range has defected from UNP’ etc. were published to suppress this controversial revelation.
‘Mawrata’calls
However, after we made this disclosure, on Saturday when the newspaper was released to the market, Mr. Range Bandara received a phone call from ‘Mawrata’ newspaper. Range said that not only he, but more than a thousand UNP party members who suffered political revenge since 1994 have been approved for compensation, and that he is one among that group. Rangee said that the cabinet paper presented by the Ministry of Justice had even the approval of the Attorney General, therefore he informed the ‘inside politics’ column that he had no reason to fear.
Another revelation
However, we asked Range about the current political situation, why he is not seen on the election platform of his party leader, the President, and why for his silence. There, Range gave us a wonderful answer. Range, who said that he is somewhat disappointed with the current political situation, said that all those questions will be answered as soon as the presidential election is over. When Range made that statement, due to the loftiness of his tone, we confirmed that Range is ready for a serious political revelation after the 21st. It was confirmed to us that a lot of information about many UNP stalwarts will be revealed through that revelation. Accordingly, we will have to wait two or three more days to know exactly what Range’s revelation is.
