Chairman of the Elections Commission Mahinda Deshapriya had to swoop into rescue Colombo District Secretary (GA) Sunil Kannangara at the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation last week after a raid based on a false complaint went badly awry.
Kannangara raided SLRC based on a complaint that the state broadcaster was preparing to air a programme in violation of elections laws, and allegations that some sort of material to promote NDF candidate Sajith Premadasa inside the building.
In high-handed fashion, the Colombo GA stormed in with police and elections officials in toe, and tried to forcibly enter the SLRC main control room (MCR). For security reasons, no broadcaster will permit outsiders into its MCR, the heart of its transmission. “If I find what I’m looking for, all of you and Sajith Premadasa will be finished,” Kannangara was overheard saying as he marched around the television station premises, sources inside the building at the time told Colombo Telegraph.
However, when the raid rendered no results, Kannangara and his team turned tail and tried to leave the SLRC premises. Security officials attached to the station stopped the GA from trying to leave, until the issue could be cleared up.
Soon afterwards, EC Chairman Deshapriya had to come into rescue Kannangara and his team. Deshapriya who has consistently refused to take any action against private media broadcasters Hiru and Derana TV for its blatantly biased coverage of the presidential election in which both networks are heavily favouring the SLPP candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa, stormed into the SLRC, throwing his weight around and demanding to know who was stopping his officials from leaving the premises.
Ironically Kannangara’s ill-fated raid and Deshapriya’s major rescue mission took place just after the Elections Commission Chairman had been on Derana TV making nice with anchor Chathura Alwis for a live interview. Observers said it was beyond the pale for the EC Chairman to appear on Derana TV when the private broadcaster was being accused of blatant violations of the Commission’s own media guidelines. His appearance appeared to absolve Derana TV and its Chairman Dilith Jayaweera, who recently appeared inside Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s land rover while the SLPP candidate was campaigning.
In 2016 Deshapriya was awarded for being the public servant of the year by Derana TV.
Kannangara, who will perform the role of Colombo District Returning Officer in next Saturday’s crucial presidential election is already gravely tainted with bias in favour of the SLPP.
As GA, Kannangara personally attended MP Namal Rajapaksa’s wedding ceremony in order to register the marriage.
He found himself in the throes of controversy again after he posted material abusive of NDF candidate Sajith Premadasa on his official Facebook page. The post shared by Kannangara referred to Premadasa as “booru puthaano”.
During the October 2018 coup, Kannangara posted similarly political content favouring the SLPP.
When attention was drawn to the issue during a press conference at the elections commission, Deshapriya strongly defended Kannangara, saying the Returning Officer was a good public servant. “No no I don’t think he is like that” Deshapriya noted when journalists questioned him. Since the issue was raised Kannangara deleted the post and posted a non-apology. The Colombo GA has also been remarkably pro-active in reining in offences by the Premadasa campaign, while showing incredible leniency to the SLPP.
Concerns about the Returning Officer for Colombo are particularly grave because of widespread reports around the Colombo city that scores of voters particularly from minority ethnic communities had been disenfranchised for the November 16 presidential election similar to how it happened in 2005. Colombo Telegraph also learns that EC Chairman Deshapriya is protective of this officer because he has previously been useful to the Chairman in respect of hushing up inquiries connected to the Department of Elections.
Deshapriya himself is telling the Elections Commission staff that Premadasa is unlikely to obtain more than 30% of the vote at the presidential election, Colombo Telegraph learns.
K.A. Sumanasekera / November 11, 2019
Is this another Clutching at Straws ?????
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Analyst / November 11, 2019
Something to fear and be cautious about this Election commissioner Deshapriya and the outcome of this election.
Bolivian President Evo Morales was made to resign after nearly 14 years in power amid turmoil following his disputed election last month. .
The International election monitors found the Election Rigged and the results were annulled.
So Our Election commissioner is partial towards a Candidate thus makes him INAPPROPRIATE to hold the official post for starters.
People should protest to REMOVE HIM FROM THE OFFICE BEFORE THE ELECTION. Full stop for him.
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Analyst / November 11, 2019
In Democracy in a so called Democratic nation we expect the Election commissioner to be Impartial. All the signs are there for this man to be Inappropriate for the honourable job.
What are we ? Who are we? taken for illiterate morons ? Just forget it and move over , ? Is it the Religion or the Undemocratic thugs of whom we elect we’re terrified of to speak up or act upon??
Is it the bribe and corruption keeps people of this nation to be Silent and turn a blind eye for crimes, thuggery, and murder??
People !!! use your brains , stand up against all the ills of this so called Buddhist nation.!!!
STAND UP FOR THE RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE AND THE RIGHTS OF THE NATION. For the past 70 years the Law &Orders of our nation had taken to the LOWEST..
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meer / November 11, 2019
Analyst – This bugger is a dishonourable EC and a Rajafucksha ass licker!
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Deshapremiya / November 14, 2019
Let us all standup for our rights
We saw the similier bungling during fonseka S election
This guy was deputy in elections office then
We have seen posts about private calls just before the citizenship case from deshapriya to mr
And now the safeguarding of GA
The statements on citizenship
Let us one and all decide for democracy to orevail
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Analyst / November 11, 2019
How about the news Pardoning murder suspects awaiting capital punishment by our very own President?? It can only happen in our wonder of Asia called SillyLanka where
no other !!! Just before the Presidential election.
What’s the Motive Sir???
Pathetic ! No??
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Chethiyasena / November 12, 2019
I hope the next CT article would cover that white-van-driver media briefing made by our
Dr Suvapathi!
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Roman Leslie / November 11, 2019
Derana was started with Gota s I’ll gotten money having Dilith as his crony. Dilith was a student activists with leftist sentiments and Marxism when he was at school, All his socialism swept under the carpet with Gota s money
Sad part is the election Commissioner. All I could say about him is YOU TOO BRUTUS
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Amila / November 11, 2019
Dheshapriya is from Ambalangoda and heavy leftist since university time. He is mentally out tooas he is a heavy drinker. He seems to be indirectly supporting GR.. Probably gota promised him more liquor every day or probably promised him an ambassador post or national list mp post or something for his children..
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Amarasiri / November 11, 2019
CT,
Thanks. So the Rajapaksa Mafia has infested the Election commissioner and the Colombo Government District Agent as well.
Looks like another Dr. Shafi of Kurunegala allegation.
Of grave concern is the disenfranchising of minority voters. This should be challenged in the courts .
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S. C. Pasqual / November 11, 2019
Mr. Amarasiri……
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In the end………
On 17th of November………..
When final result of the election announced…..
You can say that “Rajapaksa Mafia has infested” 60% of voters of this fine country………
Or else………
You can cry 60% of voters abused voting system….
Os…. something else more creative.
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Amarasiri / November 11, 2019
S. C. Pasqual,
// “Rajapaksa Mafia has infested” 60% of voters of this fine country………
Or else………
You can cry 60% of voters abused voting system….
Os…. something else more creative.//
The mean IQ of the populace is 79, and with the Rajapaksa Mafia’s action, they made the populace stupider, made their IQ’s drop, and they voted Para-Gota, the US Para-Citizen.
A land like no other where stupidly is a virtue, and imbecility is highly valued.
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S. C. Pasqual / November 12, 2019
Mr, Amarasiri……….
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Fair enough.
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Happy to see that you all have already accepted defeat.
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And try to use some more big words like “”disenfranchising”” in useless and meaningless comments to show the BIG IQ.
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Lasantha Pethiyagoda / November 11, 2019
No justice can prevail when public officials start fearing for their lives, loved ones or positions if an autocratic psychopath gains office at a poll.
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punchinilame / November 11, 2019
L.P.
Evidence – the previous CE is gone missing along with his wife. Will someone trace where
his Pensions are being forwarded – if they are alive. The MR family Plan for conquering SL
has been disclosed even before the results by 18th. No wonder the present EC is shivering
despite the best of Alcohol provided by one of the Candidates?
Lets us still Pray and hope for the best.
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shankar / November 11, 2019
“Concerns about the Returning Officer for Colombo are particularly grave because of widespread reports around the Colombo city that scores of voters particularly from minority ethnic communities had been disenfranchised for the November 16 presidential election “
this is serious.the election should be postponed until they get their vote back.
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Gamini / November 11, 2019
It is clear, although not in Government, MR&CO have enough acolytes and henchmen in high places to do their bidding.This was confirmed by non other than his one time ally, SajinVG the other day, when he claimed MR was responsible for him not being granted bail. If true, it appears MR has not stopped interfering in the Judiciary, his pastime, while in power. MR&Co’s continued influence in high places (plus bribery) is partly the reason this government has not been able to successfully prosecute the alleged criminals of the past regime.
Just imagine, what it would be like if MR / NGR wielded power, if they are able to do these things while not in power! Is the Government sleeping or is it that MS is colluding in all this? TV Stations are currently under MS’s control?
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Mohd / November 11, 2019
“Is the Government sleeping” – What you expect a govt can do with spineless, post greedy RW, and sneaky Gamaral who is going “Kade” for MR are on top? I still can’t understand how UNP MPs will protect country’s democracy when those chickens are not capable of fighting for democracy inside the party
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Manel Fonseka / November 11, 2019
“Just imagine, what it would be like if MR / NGR wielded power, if they are able to do these things while not in power! “
Precisely!
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Hela / November 11, 2019
CT seems to be already planning to spin SP defeat. If SP gets about 30% (6% better than Elpitiya), CT might scream of another jilmart since Deshapriya appears to have already predicted it.
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Native Vedda / November 11, 2019
Helass
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“CT might scream of another jilmart since Deshapriya appears to have already predicted it.”
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What if Sajith gets 99.99% of the votes caste and counted?
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jehan / November 11, 2019
deshapriya should be investigated, as all these buddhist nationalist idiots will make sri lanka the next balkens .how did he accept gota, when he has two nic numbers, and invalid number was used to vote in 2005-2009. what if a normal citizen does this, the citizen will be in jail for 7years.
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Mano / November 11, 2019
This is absolutely ludicrous…. how on earth is Sajith expecting for there to be a level playing field with a Returning Officer gunning for him? Even worse is the Election Commissioner, while putting up a just and fair image, is clearly pro-Gota. Are there no legal measures available for Sajith to keep the GA off election duties?
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Jehan / November 11, 2019
Victory in the Sri Lanken Elections will be determined by women. Women will decide who can provide food/housing/security and education for their children. This time around more than religion or ethnicity, the determination would be the male and female voters choosing on what they perceive to be the best for their family and themselves. The Buddhist upper middle class civil servants and private sector workers who are biased towards Gota, and by hook or by crook promoting him, even though his nationality is suspect, and the crimes he has committed against humanity, which he conveniently passes on to the country government in the US courts, seem to have not taken into consideration the general population demographics.
The women of Sri Lanka the laths, somawathi, is voting for Sajith, in numbers, and this will be a surprise to all and sundry, When Sajith wins with comfortable margin.
Then we can see the racist dogs coming out from Gnanasara to rathna, which Sajith should deal severely to stop a another 4/21 happening.
Cussed attitude of the security guards at airports/supermarkets /banks should be dealt with ,if tourism to recover. More than racism this should be a priority,as cussedness might be perceived as racism.
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Ajith / November 11, 2019
The powerful machines always try to block a person or candidate who comes from economically, socially disadvantaged(poor, caste). The richest high class Mahinda group has the advantage of the support of not only high level Buddhist authority (Mahanayake’s), high level military, judiciary and civil service including the Election Commission. They are able to buy any one and the war is now between High and Low class communities.
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Eagle Eye / November 11, 2019
Ajith,
The war is between those who eradicated terrorism and ensured peace and security and those who miserably failed to prevent terrorist attack and pushed the country back to the situation prevailed before 2009.
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ajith / November 12, 2019
Eagle Eye,
Who eradicated Terrorism? Real Terrorism was between 2009 and 2015. LTTE did not want the whole country under dictatorship. But Mahinda wanted to own the country for his Family. Over 100,000 innocent Tamils were massacred. Over 30, 000 Sinhala youths were lost in the war. For What, To create a dictatorship? How come the Easter Bombing happened after October 2018 plot against Srilanka by Sirisena and Mahindaa? Are you telling that half of Sinhalese who voted against Mahinda dictatorship are Terrorists? In other words, you are prepared to massacre half of this Sinhalese as well?
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Chauvinist / November 11, 2019
Conduct of the election commission was commendable in 2015 with brilliant master strokes to ensure election was free and fair. Same can not be said during this election. Is it not the duty of the election commission to investigate violation of election laws! Has this been delegated to GAs so that they are empowered to raid public premises and investigate? It is worrying this partisan GA is the returning Officer for Colombo district.
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Jehan / November 11, 2019
Colombo General Post office was it on fire, postal votes are they stored there
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roy / November 11, 2019
Thuggery without power, imagine with power. Gotler will sell Srilanka.
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Saman / November 11, 2019
Yes, EC and police are also investigating Dr Harsha De Silva’s secretary who is on record saying he copied contents from WhatsApp messages…LOL
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Eagle Eye / November 11, 2019
Saman,
A guy working for Dr. Jayampathy also has been caught distributing leaflets that carry things that tarnish the image of Gotabhaya.
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‘Yahapalana’ guys have gone to the lowest level possible in their campaign. Parajitha is talking about 7000 tons of gold taken by Gotabhaya. May be he has gone mad.
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Kumara / November 11, 2019
Deshapriya was seen as reasonable Govt Servant but the way he acts, we have our doubt and it will cost the country very badly in view of the upcoming election. The Govt should take immediate action regarding Colombo GA. Colombo district being a strong bastion for UNP, it will be dangerous to keep this fellow in Colombo.
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Buddhist / November 11, 2019
Last Presidential election Deshapriya vanished, there were rumors to say he was arrested by Gota and kept in a secret place. May be Deshapriya is scared of his life again because Gota is contesting. What ever said and done Deshapriya is bias as he does not take any action against Hiru and Derana. At least he should name Hiru and Derana as bias TV channels.
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sellam / November 11, 2019
Underneath lies the money and power. This ideology cannot be got rid of in Sri Lanka unless all of them are wiped out of the land.
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JD / November 11, 2019
EC bought Card boxes Rs 1500 a box. who profited from it. Why Cardboard box is that expensive. Is te COSt of living that high in Sri lanka ?
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Plato. / November 11, 2019
It must be painful for a former Legal Draftsman and son of that RESPECTED Lawyer from Badulla Stanley Abeysekera to rub shoulders with a Bumpkin like Mahinda Deshapriya!
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Sinhala_Man / November 12, 2019
Dear Plato,
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Now don’t get mad at me, the way you did once when I told you that my father’s pupil, Prof. Vinnie Vitharana (still active in Samudrasnna Road, Mt Lavinia), is an authority on the Maldives. Of course, we got over that. To read his “Sri Lankan-Maldivian Cultural Affinities” (ISBN 955-9079-14-X) one has to know Sinhalese, English, Dhivehi, and some Linguistics.
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My pater taught Vinnie in Christ Church College, Tangalle (as it then was). Hoole’s mother had taught Maths there many years later, but with the same Malayalee, Mr Samuel (him of the hearing aid) being still the Principal.
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My pater is said to have taught Nalin Abeysekera at S. Thomas’, Bandarawela, but much older than me or any of my siblings. I’ve never met Nalin. Was he your classmate?
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However, when I was a kid, shy of all girls, a Christmas Card used to come every year from Nalin’s sisters, “Dum, and Dil, and Dakshi” they were called. They were in school with my half dozen sisters.
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I did meet Stanely Abeysekera M.B.E., however. As you say a most respected proctor.
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Now that we are on the subject, though, why not sample Hoole’s courage:
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https://www.colombotelegraph.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Report-of-the-Sri-Lankan-Observer-Mission-to-the-Maldivian-Presidential-Election-of-23-Sept.-2018.pdf
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Amazing report, taken from here:
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https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/the-maldivian-parliamentary-elections-2019-where-a-happy-result-can-be-predicted/
.
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Juliano Jemma / November 11, 2019
When Mahinda Deshapriya behaves like this what were the other Commissioners doing? After all the Election Commission was established in order to ensure independence and to promote efficiency. Prof. Hoole a commissioner, is a learned and outspoken gentleman capable of standing up to authority. At least he should speak out and expose the joker Mahinda Deshapriya. This fellow Mahinda D is an idiot who came up the ladder by sheer effluxion of time. Compare him with his predecessors such as Felix Dias Abeysinghe( who was always immaculately clad in jacket and tie and spoke English) and others who were top civil servants. Deshapriya is a swabasha product and it shows in every one of his acts and speech and even his gode’ appearance. His brother Sunanda Deshapriya was a corrupt guy attached to various NGOs. He made money during Chandrika Kumaratunga’s ” war for peace ” Sudu Nelum campaign in the 1990s. When he was working in the CPA media section he stole the project money and submitted bogus accounts. Having caught the man red handed, CPA boss Pakiasothy Saravanamuthu took the unprecedented step of informing this to his partner organizations ,donors and colleagues. Shameless Sunanda who is living in asylum in Switzerland came to Srilanka recently with a group of foreign journalists on a mission to whitewash the suicide bombers involved in the Easter Sunday massacre.It runs in their genes I suppose.
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JD / November 12, 2019
National List – Female LAwyer MPs are lieing on Behalf of Sajith. SHe presentd statistics to show why Sri Lankan women not wearing sanitary towels are fairing bad in chil births and other thins, So, primitive women in Sri lanka.
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JD / November 12, 2019
Sajith Purposing free – Sanitary towels not wearing anything came from Mangala I heard. I can imagine that. His women, or probably he himself, are definitely not wearing sanitary towels. That is Sri lanka. You can complete a course in Lingerie designing and can run the whole country including finance and foreign affairs. ELECTION commission is biased, OVer 65 year old american citizen fighting for the Jaffanishtan – Protestant rights who said peoples sovereignty is bellow his special privilages and 225 MPs fundamental needs are above all.
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Analyst / November 12, 2019
JD
Have you taken an overdose on Sanitary ware of women. Come on , Giving ST for women is a health issue for a fact if you must know. Clean towels keeps infections at bay which is good for women folks also keeps health budget low in the long run.
Before your utterance think before .
Taking note of women’s health who are poor and unable to afford to buy these products are as God sent as you J D living in a country with a “Thick head” among us…is a sin.
God we are so thick in our bastards nation cannot think progressively other than talk SHIT here on CT.
Shame on you .
Talk about releasing murderers out in the streets thicko next.
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K.A. Sumanasekera / November 12, 2019
Will the Election Commissioner arrest the UNP Dentist , the Health Minister Dr Rajitha , after the White Van Driver and Mr Pirhaparan’s Gold courier both, were caught wearing false Beards and fake Ray Bans?.
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Or , will the Independent Professor Hoole at least recommend to the Commissioner to do so ?.
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Coincidentally those Beards looked exactly like the one Mr Zaharan had in that photo in CT the other day..
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Poor Nandasena,
Just imagine the harm done to his momentum by Dr Rajitha?.
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Our long suffering inhabitants I don’t think can expect even the UNP supporters here and elsewhere wanting to render an Apology , let alone their Leaders doing so..
Will their all honest, clean as a whistle , last protector of Democracy and Good Governance in Lankawe, Keselwatt Kid at least distance himself from the False Beards?…
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charles / November 12, 2019
sour grapes
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EA / November 12, 2019
Why ‘Grave’ concerns? Is NGR involved?
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saman / November 14, 2019
EC is a Joker and look like Dancer see his photos. No professional talk,No professional action,No professional speak we must sack and punished him for wrong doing .Nation must stand against this joker
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