Failed Attempts to Postpone the Presidential Elections
EC Drags Its Feet
Playing Hidden Games with the 22nd Amendment
Photographer to be a Presidential Candidate
Sajith Surges Ahead with ‘Sakwala’ Programs
Shooting at Donald Trump Prompts Beefing Up Security for Politicians in Sri Lanka
LG election prevented
When Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, who was elected President with 6.9 million votes, abandoned the presidency and fled to a foreign country through the back door of the Presidential Palace, and Mahinda Rajapaksa, elected as Prime Minister with 6.8 million votes, hid in an army camp in Trincomalee, the people of the country were anticipating a change in power. However, when Mr Ranil Wickremesinghe negotiated with the Rajapaksas and continued to govern with the support of Pohottuwa, preventing any change in the ruling power, the country eagerly awaited the local government election as an opportunity to express their dissatisfaction with the government. Understanding this, the President postponed the local government election by citing various excuses and reasons. Even though the court had ordered the release of funds for the local government election, the government led by the President took steps to avoid holding it, citing a lack of funds.
As a result, the people prepared to voice their opinions until the presidential election was held. During this time, both the opposition and lawyers believed that the government would have to hold the presidential election, as the Constitution mandated it. However, the government attempted to delay the presidential election just as it had postponed the local government election. This included two individuals petitioning the Supreme Court to request a postponement of the presidential election. Nevertheless, the Supreme Court, upholding the people’s right to vote and protecting sovereignty and democracy, ordered that the presidential election be held after five years, as stipulated in the constitution. Consequently, the entire country awaited the empowerment of the Independent Election Commission, the body responsible for announcing the presidential election. This empowerment was expected to occur on August 17th.
The game to be played with 22’
Under such a background, the government almost suddenly adopted a proposal from the cabinet and called it the 22nd amendment to the parliament, claiming that it was to correct the gaps in the constitution regarding the presidential tenure. The opposition as well as the advocates of democracy had pointed out that the government is trying to hold a referendum and that it is making some effort to confuse the holding of the presidential election.
Was the commission trapped?
However, even though the Election Commission had the power to announce the presidential election on the 17th, the Election Commission on that day informed that the date of the presidential election would be announced by the end of this month, referring to avoid the ‘Rahu’ period etc. In a background where the government is creating a lot of confusion in the country regarding the conduct of the presidential election, many people saw this situation as giving time to the government to bring the 22nd amendment because the election commission did not announce the presidential election in the first instance because the election commission had the ultimate responsibility to end that confusion.
A form was seen. Accordingly, a letter signed by members of several opposition parties was given to the Election Commission by the General Secretary of SJB, Mr. Ranjith Maddumabandara. Representatives of many civil organizations came in front of the Election Commission and started a ‘satyagraha’ and said that the commission should immediately announce the date of the presidential election. Many election monitoring organizations, including the ‘Paffrael’ organization, held press conferences and said that the Election Commission should take steps to announce the presidential election without further delay.
A decisive Thursday
When the government and the commission were continuously pressured that the presidential election should be announced, 3 very important events happened on Thursday. The first incident was receiving the hint that the government decided not to carry forward the 22nd amendment which caused some confusion regarding the presidential election. This was confirmed for the first time in the party leaders’ meeting held in Parliament on Thursday morning. Although the government had planned to bring the 22nd amendment to the parliament in the coming parliamentary week, Mahinda Amaraweera said at the party leader’s meeting that the government decided not to present the amendment to the parliament. After the meeting of the party leaders, Amaraweera told the media about it and said that the government definitely will not present the 22nd amendment to the parliament, and if the 22nd amendment is brought to the parliament, he will vote against it.
Wijayadasa hold it back
The second incident was the Justice Minister Wijayadasa Rajapaksa instructed the Secretary of the Ministry of Justice not to gazette the 22nd Amendment. Vijayadasa had stated that the Ministry had advised the Secretary not to gazette the 22nd amendment to end the confusion arising regarding the holding of the presidential election within the country.
The commission will change
The third and most notable event was observed by the Election Commission. On Tuesday, the Election Commission stated it would announce the date of the presidential election by the end of the month and mentioned that the government would not submit the 22nd Amendment. However, on Thursday evening, the commission made a special statement indicating it would announce the date of the presidential election next week. This raised suspicions that the Election Commission was allowing the government time to present the 22nd Amendment.
Despite this, another significant incident occurred on Friday, revealing a serious internal crisis within the government regarding the 22nd Amendment. The President ordered the gazetting of the 22nd amendment, despite the Justice Minister instructing the Ministry Secretary not to gazette it, and the Minister of Agriculture stating that the amendment would not be presented to Parliament next week. Consequently, it remains unclear how Justice Minister Wijayadasa will respond.
Why is Ranil doing this?
However, why are various subterfuges and gimmicks implemented by the government to postpone the presidential election even at the last minute? It is not for any other reason but because Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe has not yet been able to fulfil the necessary factors to confirm his candidacy. The first factor is to get the support of the ‘bud’ for it. The second factor has been the gathering of a group of 25 MPs from SJB to the government as promised earlier to get the support of Pohottuwa. Although the President made efforts for this in the past, the President was unable to bring even four or five members of the SJB MPs to the government. In the end, only Rajitha and Fonseka were going to join the government. But Pohottuwa had informed the government that if only Rajitha and Fonseka were taken, it would be disadvantageous for the government and SJB would get an advantage.
However, due to the announcement by the President that a group of 25 people from SJB would come to the government, Basil had given them a date to bring the group to the government before July 25. But since it could not be done on June 15, the President managed to get another month for it. The period of that month passed on the 15th day of the last Month. But we revealed in the ‘Inside Politics’ column last week that the President personally went to Mahinda’s official residence at Wijerama Mawatha to get another two weeks for the same, as he was unable to bring a group of SJB MPs into the government even then.
Split starts from Kandy
Meanwhile, measures were taken to hold the second meeting held last weekend by the Ministers of Pohottuwa to welcome the President in Kandy. It was none other than Mr. Mahindananda Aluthgamage, a member of the Pothottu who is very friendly to the President these days. The first meeting organized by Pohottuwa by Kanchana Wijesekera on behalf of the President was in Matara. In this instant too Pohottuwa had officially informed the Kandy constituency organizers not to attend as this was not a Pohottuwa meeting. It was noted a crisis blooming in the government fraction. It was noted that although several ministers from Pohottuwe participated, there was no mention from the government that the meeting was a success.
Prasanna is saved
However, unlike the meeting held in Matara, after the meeting held in Kandy, the conflict of opinion between the government and Pohottuwa came to the fore in public. This is due to the comments made by Prasanna Ranatunga and Mahindananda Aluthgama, who are now directly representing Ranil, at a press conference. There, Prasanna and Mahindananda clearly said that at this time, Pohottuwa should support the President; otherwise, if another candidate is presented in the presidential election, the party cannot be prevented from splitting. Prasanna and Mahindananda had mentioned that they would give their support to the President under such a background.
Although Prasanna and Mahindananda warned if Ranil is not supported the outcome is a split in the party, Basil Rajapaksa, the mastermind of Pohottuwa, was engaged in political activities in Pohottuwa without any disturbance. Last week, we made a special disclosure through the ‘inside politics ‘ column, and to reveal to the country the photos of the ‘General Election Operations Office’, which was built very secretly by Basil to face the Presidential Election. Also, without showing any change, Basil had taken steps to participate in the meeting of the Presidential Election Steering Committee of the government which was chaired by the President. Also, last week, Basil went to the Election Commission with Namal Rajapakse and Sagara Kariyawasam to inform the representatives of the Commission to announce the presidential election as soon as possible.
What Basil is up to?
The ‘Inside Politics’ column has learned that despite how hot the political arena is, Basil acts like this without any panic because he has made a very careful calculation regarding all possible situations ahead. Basil calculates that if Pohottuwa presents a candidate for the presidential election, there is a possibility that at least 20 MPs from Pohottuwa will join the president. In that case, Basil has decided to remove all these people from the party, even if they are seniors in Pohottuwa. Basil calculates that these twenty people will have to run for the general election either from the United National Party or the ‘swan’ sign, and the president will be defeated if Pohottuwa puts forward a candidate. Basil’s position is that if that happens, all of them will have to stay at home instead of coming to parliament.
Secret discussion
Meanwhile, at the beginning of last week, a rumour in the political field said that millionaire businessman Dhammika Perera, who is ready to run as a candidate for Pohottuwa, has decided not to enter the presidential race. The rumours further said that if Dhammika does not run for the presidential election, Namal, who is the national organizer of Pohottuwa, has decided to run for the presidential election.
In this regard, during an investigation by the ‘inside politics’ column, it was learned that after this rumour, a very secret discussion was held at Mahinda’s official residence last Wednesday, in which only Mahinda-Basil-Dhammika and Namal participated. In this discussion which lasted for several hours, Pohottuwa has made a final decision to give the presidential candidacy to Mr. Dhammika Perera and to make his name public within 2 days after the announcement of the presidential election.
Sajith with ‘Sakwala’ programme
It is noteworthy that Mr. Sajith Premadasa, the candidate of Samagi Jana Balavegaya, has already completed half of his presidential election campaign while Pohottuwa has just finalized its decision regarding its presidential candidate and has started campaigning. Through the Sakwala program, Sajith has traveled across the country, providing smart classrooms to children in underserved schools in every district of Sri Lanka.
This initiative has garnered support from people representing both the opposition and the government, bridging the north, south, west, and east. During Sajith’s visit to the North last month, notable figures such as M.A. Sumanthiran, a leader of the Tamil Alliance and a Member of Parliament, Dharmalingam Siddharth, the leader of the Telo organization, and Angajan Ramanadanda, the only member from the north representing the Sri Lankan Freedom Party, were present. In the East, during his trip to Batticaloa, Sajith was accompanied by Rauf Hakeem, alongside Rishad Badiuddin, and was seen at events with Selvam Adaikkalanathan, a head of the Tamil Alliance.
A security issue
However, in every meeting held during these visits, a large number of people constantly flocked to see Sajith, chat with him and take photos. Especially in the ‘people wall’ programs held in Gampaha and Kalutara last week, it was seen that a large number of people participated in any meeting held by the opposition in history.
But many people had pointed out to Sajith a fact that Sajith did not understand. It is said that there may be some problems regarding the security of Sajith, who is currently very popular among the people due to the underworld activities in the country as well as the killing incidents and international terrorist acts. Especially with the gun attack targeting Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate of the United States of America last week, the security of Sri Lankan political leaders has been discussed once again. In particular, Mr Eran Wickramaratne gave his views on this while attending a press conference, and he said that under the current situation, the security of Sajith and other opposition leaders should be tightened immediately.
Inspector General’s discussion
Under these circumstances, the chief organizer of the opposition, Mr Lakshman Kiriella, requested the Speaker, Mr Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, to arrange a meeting with the Inspector General of Police (IGP) regarding Sajith Premadasa’s safety. Responding to this request, the Speaker convened the meeting last Friday. The IGP attended with another Deputy Inspector General of Police, while Kiriella and Thisa Wijegunawardena, the opposition leader’s parliamentary secretary, represented Sajith’s side.
The meeting began at 10:30 am, with Thisa Wijegunawardena first highlighting the weaknesses in Sajith’s security and requesting the Speaker’s immediate intervention. The discussion then turned to recent news reported by the Indian media about ISIS threats at Ahmedabad Airport, following the arrest of four terrorists by the Gujarat Counter-Terrorism Unit. Kiriella emphasized that the Indian media had confirmed a threat, but the IGP stated that no such information had been reported by intelligence agencies. Kiriella responded firmly to this.
The Easter attack is also out
“This is what happened during the Easter attack. At that time, Indian intelligence agencies had reported the exact time and place of the attack. However, despite having this information, the police could not prevent the Easter attack. Therefore, before something like that happens again, take immediate action based on the information received,” said Kiriella. Tisa Wijegunawardena reiterated that he had written to the Ministry of Public Security on May 31st and June 13th, asking to confirm the security of the opposition leader, but no response had been received so far.
In response, the Inspector General of Police mentioned that a report had been requested regarding the information provided by the arrested terrorists in India, but it had not yet been received.
After over an hour of discussion, the Speaker, having listened to all the information, instructed the Inspector General of Police to take immediate action. The IGP assured that he would discuss the matter with the relevant departments and make a decision.
Following the incident in America, the President presented a special cabinet paper to establish a special unit, headed by a Deputy Inspector General of Police, to oversee the security of politicians.
Mano and co meet with Ranil
Meanwhile, last week, the leaders of Samagi Jana Sandhanaya MPs, Palani Digambaram, Mano Ganesan, S. Velukumar received a special invitation from the President’s Secretariat. Informing that the government is planning to turn the plantation line rooms into villages, and the president is going to present a cabinet paper to the cabinet and come to the presidential secretariat on Thursday to discuss the matter. The President’s Secretariat had also planned to send a copy of the cabinet paper to be presented by the President to Mano Ganesan, Digambaram and other groups.
Upon receiving this invitation, Mano, Digambaram and everyone else immediately informed Sajith that they had received this kind of invitation from the President and asked Sajith what to do about it. Sajith told them to attend as the President had invited them, and before doing so, they should study the cabinet paper carefully and prepare the answers to be given.
According to the instructions given by Sajith, Mano, Digambaram, Velukumar and others made a careful study of this cabinet paper. There they found that they could not agree with this cabinet paper at all and should protest against it. They also found that this cabinet paper does not contain any of the facts that the president had previously promised to give the estates to the working people. Accordingly, Mano, Digambaram and the group decided to participate in the discussion and protest in the President’s face. They also decided to express their objection in writing.
Face the opposition
Accordingly, when they participated in the discussion, Ministers Jeevan Thondaman, Vadivel Suresh and others who represent the plantations of the government were present. Mano and Digambaram expressed their opposition to the proposal as discussed earlier when the president was explaining the cabinet paper at the beginning of the discussion. Moreover, Mano and Digambaram had also taken steps to protest in writing against the cabinet paper.
Lohan’s latest two weapons
Lohan Rathwatte was a well-known state minister who made news in the past. Once Lohan entered the Anuradhapura jail with firearms. There was also a serious allegation that the pistol was pointed at the prisoners’ heads. A committee was even appointed to look into this matter, and nothing has happened to that report even today.
However, Lohan is known to be very fond of firearms. Confirming that, last week Lohan had arranged to buy two brand new firearms. Lohan first showed it to none other than former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Accordingly, Lohan, who met Mahinda last week, took steps to show Mahinda the two firearms he had just bought.
Another guy?
Due to the presidential election season, it is possible to see how different characters are coming out day by day. It is also possible to see various opportunities being created. Another such incident that happened last week was an incident of taking photos of President Ranil Wickremesinghe. A major advertising agency had taken steps to get a photographer to participate in the presidential election, as special photos are needed to be used for that purpose.
In this way, the opposition leader was also photographed last week. It is from another advertising agency. But the same photographer who took the photos of the aforementioned President had also participated in that event. There, the secret about taking photos of the President came out of his mouth.
Everyone got to know that a certain person who was very close to former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who is expressing his opinion that he will run for the presidential election these days, has taken over a large part of the president’s election campaign. He is ready to present himself as a candidate from another party, and many of those who were there were seen mentioning the morality of accepting the promotion of another rival candidate and whether he will deceive the country this time as he deceived the country last time to bring Gota to power.
