He said that a group of supporters of a ruling party minister had turned up at the venue where the meeting was due to take place and caused extensive damage and said that they would not allow the meeting to take place.  (Read More)

Mr. Imtiyas told the Daily Mirror yesterday that he would also back President Rajapaksa in the coming presidential election.

He said he was still working for the city dwellers as their city father and that was the reason he was still occupying the Mayor’s Bungalow and receiving other perks. “I am continuously working for the people and am prepared to do anything for them if they ask for help,” he said.

Mr. Imtiyas said all the other members of the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) were also working for the people.

“I don’t care what anyone from the opposition or anyone else says about my using the official bungalow as they cannot afford to talk because they have enjoyed all the perks without doing any thing for the people,” he added. (read more).

Western provincial councillor Reginald Cooray was turned back by the police as government supporters raised strong objections when he arrived at the Wadduwa Vijaya Kumaratunga Auditorium to participate at a meeting.

The Saturday’s meeting was organized and presided by Tourist Minister Nandana Gunatillake to keep SLFP supporters informed of a possible presidential election followed by a general election to be held early next year. (Read More)

President Mahinda Rajapaksa had asked Ministers and party organisers to put up his posters all over the country the very next day after the announcement of the major election.The posters were sent to them on Saturday.

A committee has been set up to conduct the President’s election campaign with the Jathika Nidahas Peramuna (JNP) leader Wimal Weerawansa billed to be one of the major speakers at rallies which will be attended by the President. (Read More)

The Venerable Battaramulle Seelaratana Thera of the Warana Rajamahavihara is hoping to contest for the presidency as a candidate from his own political party ‘Janasetha Peramuna’ and said he would handover his nomination once the date was set.

He said he was approached by several political parties in the government and the opposition but he would contest on his own under the party symbol ‘tractor’. (Read More)

The JVP said yesterday it would not talk to other opposition political parties on the possibility of fielding a common candidate at the next presidential election, but would only talk to the common candidate identified by the party for this purpose.

JVP parliamentary group leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake told Daily Mirror his party would within the next few days hold talks with former Army Commander and Chief of Defence Staff

Sarath Fonseka as a possible common candidate.

“We are not concerned about what is happening in other parties. We will pursue our goal to support a common candidate whom, we think, is the most suitable. Our objective is the abolition of the executive presidency. In this exercise, we will only talk to the common candidate. We will not   talk to other political parties,” Mr. Dissanayake said when he was asked about the different views expressed by the UNP on General Fonseka’s candidacy.

Heads, I lose, Tails you win, may well be the position of Sarath Fonseka, the retired Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), who is being touted as the common Opposition candidate for the presidency, if elections to the high office were to be held still.

If he lost the poll, he would retire into oblivion, as his political masters could pick up the pieces from the past and walk past him as if nothing had changed, after all. Has anyone told Fonseka what it means to be a serving General of 40 years in uniform one day, the war hero the next, the presidential candidate the day after all of it, only to retire into the oblivion, if it came to that? (Read More)

However, President Mahinda Rajapaksa could face a strong challenge from another war hero, former army chief Gen. Sarath Fonseka.

Fonseka, who accused the government of sidelining him after the war, is expected to lead a coalition of opposition parties in the election.

Rajapaksa met with leaders of his United Peoples Freedom Alliance Monday and told his political allies that he would hold the elections two years before the end of his term, according to a statement posted on the president's Web site.

The election commissioner will announce the dates of the poll in the coming days. Media reports say the election will likely be held the third week of January.  (Read More)

Such an announcement will end the suspense of what will come first – a presidential or parliamentary election with both possibilities having been earnestly considered by the president and his inner circle since the General Sarath Fonseka factor was produced, conjuror-like, out of the opposition top hat.

Tomorrow’s announcement/declaration is most likely to be made at an astrologically propitious time. (Read More)

The frying pan or the fire?
Sarath Fonseka: Is it Hobson’s Choice?

This piece is written on the assumption that Sarath Fonseka (SF) will stand for the presidency and be supported by a Joint Opposition (JO) of the UNF, the JVP and possibly minority parties. However, Rajapakse keeps dithering about an election because he will have to quit promptly in the unlikely event that he loses; hanging on for the remainder of the first term, whatever the constitutional position, will see the streets ablaze. Will he take the chance? Also by putting back the election Rajappakse makes the JO and SF stew and squabble for a year or two. So read on with these several caveats in mind.

SF’s endorsement by the JO is also problematic. He has altered several points in the Addendum to the first version of the resignation letter agreed with the UNF and leaked to the press. The alterations are all retrogressive, reactionary and militaristic; unwelcome by democrats and unacceptable to Tamils. Therefore liberal-democrats, minorities and the left should confer on Fonseka the same suspicion they accord Rajapakse. (Read More)