Sri Lankans are today (22) eagerly awaiting the final outcome of the 2024 Presidential Election held yesterday (21), which was undoubtedly one of the most complex as well as decisive ones given the three-way battle that resulted in the key contenders facing a hard time trying to secure a majority of the vote bank.

Writing ‘The Black Box’ for this Sunday’s edition while adhering to the media guidelines effective during the election period has not been easy. Yet, the column this week, while noting the key changes of electoral patterns witnessed in the run-up to yesterday’s election, will also present some political incidents of significance. 

While many wondered about the outcome of the Presidential Election, Friday (20) saw the main contenders at the polls expressing confidence in securing a majority of the votes to declare victory in the first count itself. It is learnt that supporters of several key contenders had even planned the swearing-in ceremonies of their leaders.

However, by this morning, the country will know whether there is a victor in the first count or whether there will be more waiting until the second count is concluded later today to know who Sri Lanka’s next executive president will be.

An average of around 75-80% of eligible voters cast their votes at 13,421 polling stations islandwide yesterday – lower than the voter turnout recorded in 2019 – with many electoral districts recording close to 50% of the votes being cast by 12 noon.

The 2024 Presidential Election has shown many significant events that will shape the country’s political future – the end of party politics, the splits of key political parties, the loss of faith in perception surveys on elections, and, most of all, the effects of fear psychosis campaigns.

Apart from the panic buying witnessed on Friday and yesterday (21), the fear psychosis campaign resulted in its architects also falling prey to their own campaigns. A fear psychosis of the magnitude witnessed in the run-up to yesterday’s election was not witnessed even during the period of the war.

A few days prior to the Presidential Election – the first to be held following the country’s economic crisis in 2022 – Government data showed a slow-down in economic growth as well.

Meanwhile, the US Department of State also updated its travel advisory for Sri Lanka, urging citizens to exercise caution ahead of the upcoming Presidential Election. The advisory noted that demonstrations may occur before, during, or after the election.

However, with polling day now concluded, it is now time for a look at the campaign period.

The campaigns of the three key contenders – independent candidate President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) candidate Sajith Premadasa, and Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)-led National People’s Power (NPP) candidate Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD) – saw a shift away from party politics, with individual personalities becoming the centre point.

11th hour agreement

Nevertheless, the country’s economic crisis also became a key theme at the election. 

Just days before the Presidential Election, Sri Lanka on Thursday (19) reached agreements in principle on the restructuring of approximately $ 14.2 billion of sovereign debt with International Sovereign Bond (ISB) holders and also finalised an agreement with China Development Bank. These in-principle agreements follow the agreement reached with bilateral creditors of the Paris Club Official Creditor Committee (OCC).

State Minister of Finance Shehan Semasinghe posted on X that the ISB agreement had been reached following successful negotiations with the Ad Hoc Group of Bondholders, representing international investors, and the Local Consortium of Sri Lanka, representing domestic financial institutions. The two groups collectively hold in excess of 50% of the bonds, according to the Treasury.

“Furthermore, we are pleased to confirm that Sri Lanka has also finalised an agreement in principle with China Development Bank. These significant developments mark a major step forward in our efforts to restore economic stability, achieve long-term sustainability, and deliver appropriate debt relief to Sri Lanka,” he noted.

The President’s Media Division (PMD) announced that Sri Lanka had reached agreements with external commercial creditors to restructure approximately $ 17.5 billion of external debt, achieving a 40.3% Net Present Value (NPV) concession.

However, the announcement of the restructuring of ISB debt did not sit well with the main Opposition SJB. 

SJB Lawyers’ Collective member Shiyan Punchihewa had written a letter to the Election Commission noting that the report issued by the Government on the agreement with external commercial creditors was an attempt to influence voters. Punchihewa had called on the commission to prevent the media from publishing the matter as it would support a candidate at the Presidential Election. 

Another Opposition group also decided to initiate legal action over the Government announcement on the ISB deal during an election campaign period.

Focus on individuals

The 2024 Presidential Election saw a shift from party politics to individual personalities. 

It was Wickremesinghe however who first pointed out that politics in Sri Lanka was no longer based on party lines and that it was this reason that had pushed him to contest as an independent candidate.

This fact is evident given how the campaigns of the three main candidates evolved during the campaign period.

Wickremesinghe was portrayed as the saviour of the country during one of the worst economic crises experienced, while Premadasa became the one to focus on the needs of the masses, especially the downtrodden, and AKD became the crusader against corruption and all the wrong that exists in the political culture.

However, Premadasa’s campaign during the second phase turned into one that placed much focus on his ‘team’. The focus on the ‘team’ came about mainly due to the association of a large number of dissident Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Members of Parliament (MPs) with Wickremesinghe, especially given that some of the dissident SLPPers have been accused of various charges like corruption, and the comments made by members of AKD’s camp on how they would revive the country’s economy.

Premadasa’s campaign then started to question the public on the candidate who had the best team, to which Wickremesinghe responded saying that the election on the 21st was to elect a president for the country and not a Parliamentary Election to select MPs to form a new government. 

AKD was also criticised by the Premadasa camp for being unclear about his ‘team’ to govern the country if he assumed office. AKD ended up slamming the ‘teams’ behind Wickremesinghe and Premadasa, given that the dissident SLPPers were split between the two camps.  

Surveys galore

The Presidential Election also saw a host of surveys on public perception being carried out during the campaign period.

The surveys continued to predict different victors at the polls from time to time. These changes however took place between the three main contenders – Wickremesinghe, Premadasa, and AKD.

The confusion that was created among the public by these surveys resulted in the Election Commission urging the public not to be misled by the many survey reports that were being shared on online platforms.

However, the last week of campaigning saw the release of many such perception surveys by various individuals and institutions.

Perception surveys were first taken into political decision-making processes by the late Lalith Athulathmudali and Gamini Dissanayake. They were assisted in the process by Dissanayake’s late brother-in-law, Dr. Wickrema Weerasooria.

Afterwards, Wickremesinghe had also placed much importance on public surveys and the task of coordinating them was assigned to the likes of Charitha Ratwatte, Mahinda Haradasa, and Malik Samarawickrama.

The late Mangala Samaraweera was yet another political campaign lead who turned to public surveys to gauge the political pulse. He had at the time turned to Mano Tittawella and Krishantha Cooray to coordinate such projects.

SLPP theoretician Basil Rajapaksa is another who understood the use of public surveys, especially during election times.

However, it was SJB MP Dr. Harsha de Silva who had carried out election research in a professional manner and used the findings in campaign-related work. Apart from de Silva, individuals like Janaki Kuruppu, Atheek Marikar, and Mahen Muttiah were also engaged in carrying out surveys of public perception. 

Interestingly, a new name that has joined the political campaigners who focus on perception surveys is Premadasa confidant Lakshman Fonseka. Fonseka had assigned several perception surveys to a leading institution that conducts such work at a professional level.

It is learnt that these survey reports are treated as confidential documents shared between the client and the institution that conducts them. However, one such report had been publicised by a pro-Premadasa news outlet while exposing the name of the institution that had conducted the survey. The institution had complained that while the institution had been exposed, the facts in the original report had also been misrepresented in the relevant news report.

Astrological clash

Amidst the many perception surveys that were released by various organisations, astrological predictions were also given much prominence during the Presidential Election campaign. 

One of the first predictions on the winner of the Presidential Election was made by astrologer Sumanadasa Abeygunawardena. 

Abeygunawardena, who was considered the ‘Royal astrologer’ during the Mahinda Rajapaksa (MR) presidency, has predicted that Premadasa would win the election given that he has a ‘raja yoga’ in his horoscope. 

Abeygunawardena was at one time a constant feature in the State electronic media making predictions, but this time around, he made the prediction of Premadasa’s victory in a YouTube interview.

Meanwhile, another astrologer, Roshan Chanaka Tissera, has also indicated that Premadasa could win at the polls.

However, the Wickremesinghe camp publicised that several key Indian astrologers had claimed that Wickremesinghe had the best chances of winning. It is such a scenario that resulted in a businessman with affiliations to key politicians in the country receiving a confusing prediction from an Indian astrologer.

The relevant astrologer had stated that the country would face a bad period if an individual with a three-letter name assumed office. This prediction had left the businessman confused since the key contenders at the Presidential Election all had three-letter Sinhala names.

There is also a prediction that AKD will win at the elections. This prediction was made by astrologer Indika Thotawatte.

Be that as it may, by this morning (22) the nation will have an idea as to who the next president will be and which astrologer had got the stars aligned to make the winning prediction.

Man of the polls

If one looks at the real victor at the Presidential Election, it is evident that it is SLPP candidate Namal Rajapaksa.

Namal, who took on the challenge of contesting as the SLPP’s presidential candidate after businessman-turned-politician Dhammika Perera opted out of the presidential race, managed to keep the party’s remaining vote base intact to commence the rebuilding of the SLPP vote bank in time for his actual Presidential Election bid in 2029.

In fact, Namal’s campaign at the Presidential Election also saw a decline in the massive anti-Rajapaksa claims that were made in the past.

Namal’s target for a while has been to take the lead in the parliamentary Opposition to build his image as a ‘people’s leader’ before the next Presidential Election in five years.

Namal’s ‘deal’

Meanwhile, the Wickremesinghe camp’s claim of a ‘Namal-Sajith (Premadasa)’ deal that continued to create doubts among the people created further doubts following comments made by musician and YouTuber Iraj Weeraratne. These doubts first commenced due to Premadasa’s media campaign that engaged in promoting content in support of Namal.

The pro-Premadasa media outlets engaged in supporting Rajapaksa-promoted content critical of Wickremesinghe, AKD, and their supporters while refraining from criticising Namal or the Rajapaksas.

Weeraratne is identified as a close associate of the Rajapaksa family with close connections with the Rajapaksa sons.

However, during a recent online interview, Weeraratne had openly claimed that he would cast his first vote for Namal and then cast the second vote for Premadasa. This statement took everyone by surprise given the anti-Premadasa campaign carried out by Weeraratne during the 2019 Presidential Election. Weeraratne engaged in many ‘below the belt’ attacks on Premadasa during the 2019 campaign, which had a negative impact on Premadasa’s bid for presidency that year.

Weeraratne’s sudden change of heart was therefore viewed as an indication of some form of understanding between Namal and Premadasa.

Sajith good for Namal

This mutual support between Namal and Premadasa is believed to be yet another tactic of the Rajapaksas, who are focusing on Namal’s political future.

It is learnt that several political pundits advising the Rajapaksa family have explained that Namal’s 2029 Presidential Election bid will be a success only if the country continues to be in an economic crisis. These pundits have noted that Wickremesinghe had more chances of resolving the economic crisis while Premadasa was unlikely to do that and was also unlikely to maintain his support base.

Therefore, it has been deduced that Premadasa would be a better president for Namal’s political future.

Request to MR

However, some Rajapaksa supporters don’t seem to be sharing the same sentiments as the Rajapaksas and their closest confidants on supporting Premadasa.

This was witnessed when Rajapaksa loyalist, Ven. Dodampahala Rahula Thera urged SLPP Leader, former President MR to withdraw the SLPP candidacy of Namal and extend the party’s support to independent candidate Wickremesinghe.

The request was made during a Buddhist conference to support the candidacy of President Wickremesinghe last Sunday (15) at the Abhayarama Temple in Narahenpita.

Abhayarama Temple Chief Incumbent and University of Colombo Chancellor Ven. Muruththettuwe Ananda Thera too expressed his support for Wickremesinghe. “Ranil Wickremesinghe is the only leader capable of leading this country. I will say that anywhere,” he said.

It was ironic to see the Buddhist monks at the Abhayarama Temple, which at one time served as the unofficial headquarters of the SLPP until the party moved to its current Nelum Mawatha office in Battaramulla, supporting Wickremesinghe while the SLPP had its own candidate – Namal – in the race.

Basil and GR out

Meanwhile, former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa (GR) and SLPP theoretician Basil Rajapaksa had both left the country by the time of the Presidential Election.

GR, it is learnt, had left for India a few days earlier to attend some religious events.

Basil left the country on Friday (20) at 3.05 a.m. on Emirates Airlines flight EK 659 to Dubai and onwards to the US. Former State Minister D.V. Chanaka and MPs Sanjeewa Edirimanna and Jayantha Ketagoda had also visited the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) to bid adieu to Basil.

However, as soon as news of Basil’s departure made it to the public domain, posts were shared on social media that the Rajapaksas were fleeing the country one by one.

Some reports also stated that Namal’s in-laws had also left the country with his wife and children. Namal’s media team immediately refuted the claims, saying that Namal and his immediate family were engaged in religious observances in Kataragama. Namal and wife Limini were yesterday seen walking into the polling booth to cast their votes.

SLPP General Secretary Sagara Kariyawasam meanwhile clarified that Basil had left for the US for a routine medical check-up, which he (Basil) had had to postpone due to election campaign work.

Kariyawasam further claimed that Basil would be returning to the country to head the SLPP’s campaign for the Parliamentary Elections.

Removing SLPPers

Friday (20) was quite a busy day for the SLPP General Secretary, who after issuing statements to clarify Basil’s departure, issued letters to three senior members of the party – Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi and MPs S.M. Chandrasena and Rohitha Abeygunawardena.

Kariyawasam, issuing three separate letters to the trio, informed them that they had been suspended from the party as well as from the posts held by them in the SLPP with immediate effect. While Wanniarachchi held the post of SLPP Treasurer, Abeygunawardena held the post of National Convenor of the party.

The SLPP General Secretary’s letter had pointed out that the actions of the three senior SLPPers had violated the party Constitution and that action had been therefore initiated under Clause 19 of the party Constitution to suspend their party memberships and remove them from the posts they held in the SLPP. 

Dividing the SLPP

Nevertheless, the division of the SLPP was one of the key political events witnessed during the Presidential Election. 

The SLPP became the country’s largest political party, polling around 6.9 million votes at the 2019 Presidential Election and around 6.8 million votes at the 2020 Parliamentary Election, sending 145 MPs to Parliament and securing a near two-thirds majority as a political party.

The division in the SLPP however saw a majority of the party’s remaining MPs (given that a group had defected to the Opposition in 2022), including those considered as Rajapaksa loyalists, leaving the SLPP to extend support to Wickremesinghe.

This time around there were many more political pole-vaulters than in previous elections witnessed in the country and these pole-vaulters were mainly from the SLPP.

There were also some SLPPers who defected from the SLPP to support Wickremesinghe and returned to the SLPP fold midway, while some, after a while in the Wickremesinghe camp, joined the SJB.

Nevertheless, the great split of the SLPP has no doubt had an adverse impact on the party’s vote bank, with considerable numbers now being in the Wickremesinghe and Premadasa camps. The NPP’s AKD has also managed to secure a portion of the SLPP bloc, especially the youth and professionals who supported GR at the last election.

Results of yesterday’s Presidential Election will however give a clear picture of the SLPP’s current standing in the country.

New alliances

The defections from the SLPP resulted in the formation of two political alliances – the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP)-led People’s Alliance under the ‘chair’ symbol and the Podujana Eksath Nidahas Peramuna under the ‘trophy’ symbol, which includes dissident SLPP MPs as well as SLPP Local Government and Provincial Council members.

Another group of SLPP dissidents has also joined forces with Premadasa and the SJB.

Growing dissension

Meanwhile, the main Opposition SJB, which accepted many pole-vaulters, especially from the Rajapaksa-led SLPP, is facing growing dissension within the party over the allocation of organiser positions in an ad hoc manner.

Senior SJBers as well as the original SJB electoral and district organisers continued to express displeasure at the arbitrary manner in which the Party Leader and a group of his loyalists had assigned positions to newcomers to the party as well as the promises given on National List slots in the next Parliament.

The SJB leadership therefore has a growing internal party conflict to attend to following the Presidential Election before preparing for the Parliamentary Elections.

ITAK split

Meanwhile, the main political party of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), was also split during the Presidential Election campaign.

The party is split between three candidates – Premadasa, Wickremesinghe, and Tamil common candidate P. Ariyanethiran.

The ITAK controversy commenced on 1 September when TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran announced that the ITAK Central Committee had decided to extend support to SJB’s Premadasa. Sumanthiran’s announcement was disputed by a group of senior ITAK members including the party’s Leader-elect S. Shritharan, who was in the UK meeting with members of the Tamil diaspora at the time.

Other ITAK seniors and Central Committee members claimed that Sumanthiran’s announcement did not reflect an official ITAK decision since many party seniors had not been informed of the meeting and were not involved in the decision-making process. This was made public by Shritharan and ITAK Leader Mavai Senathirajah.

Shritharan claimed that he along with a majority of the ITAK would support Ariyanethiran at the election while the likes of Senathirajah welcomed Wickremesinghe at his residence in Jaffna and expressed hope that he (Wickremesinghe) would win the election and address the Tamil people’s concerns.

However, a five-member subcommittee of the ITAK Central Committee had met last Monday (16) and decided to extend support to Premadasa. This was announced by Sumanthiran, who had the previous day (15) gotten on Premadasa’s stage during a public rally in the north.

Several senior ITAK members maintained that the five-member subcommittee had included a majority of Sumanthiran’s loyalists in the party.

Meanwhile, Senathirajah, who earlier extended his support for Wickremesinghe, confirmed the ITAK’s support for Premadasa.

Nevertheless, after Sumanthiran’s announcement and Senathirajah’s support for it, the latter (Senathirajah) decided to get on stage with Tamil common candidate Ariyanethiran instead of supporting Premadasa.

Shritharan also got on stage with Ariyanethiran. He further called on the people of the north to cast their votes according to their conscience. 

13A pledges

Meanwhile, the implementation of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution also figured during the Presidential Election campaign.

While the two main Opposition candidates, Premadasa and AKD, had spoken of implementing the 13th Amendment, Wickremesinghe did not make it a talking point during the campaign. He instead focused on the development work required by the Northern Province.

Wickremesinghe had said in Jaffna during a meeting with professionals that he was focused on addressing Jaffna’s political issues as well, but that development could not be confined to devolution alone.

SLPP candidate Namal meanwhile stated, even in the north, that while he would take steps to immediately hold the long-delayed Provincial Council Elections, he would not assign land and Police powers to the provinces.

Easter Sunday politics

Be that as it may, one of the key issues that affected a considerable portion of the country’s voting population – the 1.3 million-odd Catholic voters – was the issue of justice for the victims of the Easter Sunday attacks.

The Easter Sunday attacks that took place in 2019 played a key role in the SJB’s Presidential Election campaign, especially through the party’s Catholic Committee. Premadasa met with Archbishop Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith on two occasions during the election campaign and AKD did so on one occasion. Both promised justice for the Easter Sunday victims. 

The level of politicisation of the Easter Sunday attacks witnessed during the election campaign created doubts on whether justice could actually be expected due to the high level of politicisation of the issue.

In a letter dated 15 September to Cardinal Ranjith, President’s Counsel Rienzie Arsecularatne questioned whether it was possible to believe that justice would be served regarding the Easter Sunday attacks if Premadasa won the Presidential Election.

The letter had stated that despite the Cardinal’s and other petitions submitted to the Supreme Court stating that Deshabandu Tennakoon was unfit to hold the position of Inspector General of Police (IGP), Professor Agalakada Sirisumana Thera, who had requested the Supreme Court to remove the interim order imposed on Tennakoon and to dismiss all the above cases filed by the petitioners, had become one of Premadasa’s strong supporters.

Arsecularatne had further questioned Cardinal Ranjith whether Premadasa would serve justice in his administration regarding the Easter Sunday attacks if he became president.

The letter was also copied to 14 Catholic Bishops.

Senior SJBer, President’s Counsel Upul Jayasuriya responded to Arsecularatne’s letter and Arsecularatne in turn responded to Jayasuriya’s letter.

However, the Supreme Court dismissed the petition by the monk to get Tennakoon reinstated.

Sagala’s action

Meanwhile, Wickremesinghe’s Chief-of-Staff Sagala Ratnayaka, it is learnt, had played a key role in securing the support of several TNA MPs for Wickremesinghe during the last few days of the campaign.

Ratnayaka had coordinated several TNA politicians on behalf of Wickremesinghe and it was he who had secured the support of the likes of TNA MPs Charles Nirmalanathan and Vino Noharathalingam for Wickremesinghe.

Second preference 

Given the intense campaign period for the Presidential Election with three key contenders, there were also efforts by groups within the United National Party (UNP) and the SJB to first unite the two parties to ensure the defeat of the NPP’s AKD at the election.

However, with the two Leaders of the UNP and SJB not agreeing to give in to the other, groups within the UNP and SJB launched a campaign at ground level to push for the casting of the second preferential vote at the polls. 

A group of SJBers claimed that since SJB members were originally UNPers, they could ask their supporters to cast their second preference for Wickremesinghe while the UNPers had said they would push the second preference for Premadasa.

The reason for this agreement was to defeat the NPP and its candidate AKD.

NPP’s peace committees

However, the fear psychosis campaign carried out by the Wickremesinghe and Premadasa camps resulted in the NPP dismissing such fears, stating that there would not be any form of violence on election night or thereafter.

JVP/NPP Executive Committee member Vijitha Herath claimed that all election committees and campaign offices would be converted into peace committees and peace offices after the conclusion of the election.

Nevertheless, the growing fear psychosis has resulted in some members in the Wickremesinghe and Premadasa camps planning to travel overseas while some others have made arrangements to check into star-class hotels with their families during the election period.

Sajith’s campaign

Meanwhile, the Premadasa campaign adopted another new campaign against Wickremesinghe in the last few days prior to the silent period. This campaign claimed that Wickremesinghe had fallen to the fourth place among the key contenders and that he was considering moving out of the presidential race.

The campaign further focused on the fact that it was only Premadasa who could fight it out with AKD, while slamming what was termed as a ‘deal’ between Wickremesinghe and AKD.

Interestingly, one of the key anti-Wickremesinghe campaigns carried out on social media was headed by a young singer affiliated to the SLPP. This singer had worked in the Wickremesinghe campaign along with one of the Rajapaksa sons when Wickremesinghe was in discussion with the Rajapaksas until the SLPP decided to field Namal as its own candidate at the Presidential Election.

It is also learnt that this singer had been taken into the Wickremesinghe campaign by a young dissident SLPP minister and that he (the young singer) had lost his cool because the monies promised to him by the minister had not been paid.

However, social media handlers in the Wickremesinghe camp claimed that the young singer had been introduced to Premadasa’s campaign by an SLPP senior. 

However, Wickremesinghe responded to Premadasa’s campaign that the SJB should know that he was not the type to run away.

Showing India

Meanwhile, Premadasa and his confidants had also decided to use India to boost his campaign.

Premadasa’s campaign heads tried to portray that India had identified the SJB candidate as the sure winner at the Presidential Election and had extended its support to the party.

The first instance where the SJB tried to show Indian support was when TNA’s Sumanthiran announced on 1 September that the ITAK would extend its support to Premadasa following a disputed Central Committee meeting. Several Premadasa confidants claimed that it was India that had intervened to get the ITAK’s support for the SJB.

However, doubts were later cast on India’s intervention on getting ITAK support since the ITAK ended up splitting three ways without putting its full weight behind Premadasa.

The SJB then indicated that India was supporting the party to secure the support of the Thondamans of the Ceylon Workers’ Congress (CWC). It was then believed by many that CWC General Secretary Minister Jeevan Thondaman would extend support to Premadasa on the 15th. However, the Thondamans decided to remain with Wickremesinghe.

The real deals

Meanwhile, AKD slammed the ‘Wickremesinghe-AKD deal’ last week while exposing many other ‘deals’ between key contenders at the Presidential Election.

During a political interview on a private television channel, he exposed what he termed as ‘deals’ that had taken place between Wickremesinghe and Premadasa.

AKD noted that the issuance of many liquor licences to Opposition MPs was one of the key deals that had taken place during the election campaign. He further claimed that he had the relevant documents to prove his allegation.

He also pointed out that there was another deal where a senior SJB MP had been allocated land in the Hanthana area in expectation of his defection to the Wickremesinghe camp. However, the land allocation had come to a standstill with the relevant SJB MP deciding not to cross over. “Aren’t these deals?” AKD had questioned.

AKD further noted that only a selected few SJB MPs had been allocated funds under the decentralised budget for development programmes in their areas. However, these allocations to some SJBers had been halted when they had failed to extend support to Wickremesinghe.

In response to the allegation levelled by Premadasa that Wickremesinghe and AKD had a ‘deal,’ AKD claimed that he had engaged in discussions with Wickremesinghe during the previous Government not to secure any personal perks but to ensure social justice and to ensure anti-corruption mechanisms were put in place. He challenged anyone to prove that he (AKD) had taken any personal perks or benefits from Wickremesinghe for engaging in work to ensure social justice. 

“We have held discussions with various leaders who had assumed office at different times and even presented proposals related to governance and this will not change. But none of these discussions were for any personal reason or benefits. They have all been for the betterment of the country,” AKD charged.

Protests on stage

Meanwhile, a key protest was witnessed on stage last week when SJB MP Hesha Withanage decided to get down from the stage at a public rally in Ratnapura in support of Premadasa when former MP Susantha Punchinilame had gotten on the stage.

As soon as Punchinilame had arrived on the stage, Withanage and a group of SJB organisers had left the stage. Premadasa had not arrived at the rally when this incident had taken place.

Punchinilame had then gotten down from the stage and stood nearby. Once Punchinilame had gotten down from the stage, Withanage and the other organisers had returned to the stage.

However, Punchinilame had returned to the stage after a while and the SJBers on stage had objected to his presence. Finally, Punchinilame had been forced to get down from the stage and watch the rally from the ground.

Rohini loses cool

SJB’s Matale rally was also one that witnessed some action. This time around, it was SJB MP Rohini Wijeratne Kavirathna who took centre stage.

Addressing the rally, Kavirathna called on Premadasa not to onboard ‘cows’ to his camp as such creatures would only bring disrepute to him. “You have a good team with you. Don’t get these cows to support you,” she noted.

It is learnt that Kavirathna had been angered after seeing SLPP MP Lakshman Wasantha Perera on stage. 

Kavirathna had refused to go on stage as long as Perera was seated on the stage and had stayed on the ground with her supporters. Kavirathna had also telephoned the SJB General Secretary and expressed her displeasure at Perera’s presence.

Finally, SJB MP Nalin Bandara had started a conversation with Perera and taken him off the stage while engaging in a chat.

Kavirathna had then gotten on the stage and claimed that there was no space for those operating bars on Premadasa’s platform. 

Perera has been referred to as ‘Bar Wasantha’ and ‘Ethanol Wasantha’ by members of the Opposition, including the SJB, due to his (Perera’s) close affiliation with the Rajapaksa family and the many liquor licences obtained by him during the Rajapaksa Government.

Perera had been brought to the Premadasa camp by a dissident SLPPer from the Kurunegala District.