By Rajan Philips –
Rajan Philips
The upcoming presidential appears to be narrowing to become a contest between Ranil Wickremesinghe and Anura Kumara Dissanayake. The political house of Sajith Premadasa is a house divided according to insiders and outsiders, and he will have to first put his house in order before he can be a serious contender in the presidential election. The impending contest between Ranil Wickremesinghe and Anura Kumara Dissanayake will be a very different one when compared to past presidential elections.
First to be noted is the organizational disarray of the mainstream political parties and their electorally opportunistic alliances. The disarray is obvious and needs no elaboration. It also explains why President Wickremesinghe, the nearly fifty year veteran of a 77 year old party, is still looking for a political launcher for his presidential candidacy. Officially, he will be a UNP candidate with the elephant symbol, but he is looking to be acclaimed as the candidate of a grand alliance. Media columnists are writing about such an alliance, but there are no signs yet of any alliance, let alone a grand one.
The support for President Wickremesinghe is mainly based on his successful stabilization of the economy from where his predecessor left and ran away. Those who are genuinely and perhaps exclusively concerned about the economy do think that Ranil Wickremesinghe should be elected as President to continue managing the economy. But this premise has at least two limitations.
One, while it is fair to give Mr. Wickremesinghe credit for what he has done, it would be a stretch to claim that what he has done is something miraculous and that …read more
Source:: Colombo Telegraph