{"id":128350,"date":"2014-07-27T00:00:05","date_gmt":"2014-07-26T18:30:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=128350"},"modified":"2014-07-26T23:39:12","modified_gmt":"2014-07-26T18:09:12","slug":"the-common-candidate-drama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-common-candidate-drama\/","title":{"rendered":"The \u2018Common Candidate\u2019 Drama"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Malinda Seneviratne<\/a><\/span>\u00a0–<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Malinda<\/a>

Malinda Seneviratne<\/p><\/div>\n

People have short memories, some politicians like to think.\u00a0 But politicians themselves are people and the claim is eminently applicable to that category as well.\u00a0 Forgive-forget after all is par for the course in a profession about which it is said that there are no permanent enemies or friends.\u00a0 Indeed, politicians can remember-forget anything and everything, including \u2018truths\u2019 ferociously defended and enemies fought with no quarter given or asked for.\u00a0 And this, ladies and gentlemen, is which coalition politics is fascinating, unpredictable and chaotic.<\/span><\/p>\n

Last week there was a gathering of key political figures all clamoring for the abolition of the Executive Presidency<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 There was a former president<\/span><\/a> who enjoyed two full terms of constitutionally conferred dictatorial powers raising her hand to scrap that office.\u00a0 Lost in all the camaraderie was the fact that the lady came to power promising to abolish the Executive Presidency.\u00a0 No one seems to have remembered, also, that the JVP (well represented at the meeting) went around defending their support of her candidacy claiming \u2018we knew she would not do it and thought this was a good way to prove she is a liar!\u2019<\/p>\n

Moreover, she found common ground with a man<\/span><\/a> who called her Chaura Regina (Thieving Queen).\u00a0 There was the LTTE\u2019s \u2018democratic\u2019 mouthpiece chit-chatting with a man who claims he and he alone was responsible for the defeat of the LTTE.\u00a0 In the audience there were also allies of the Government who have dismissed most of the above-mentioned entities as \u2018traitors\u2019.<\/p>\n

It has come to a point where the term \u2018strange bedfellows\u2019 sounds odd since bedding with strangers has become the norm, both in the ruling coalition and in the various tie-ups that the opposition dreams up from time to time.<\/p>\n

Over the past several decades \u2018Abolish the Executive Presidency\u2019 has been a regular theme in opposition rhetoric.\u00a0 Indeed one has come to expect as inevitable for that flag to be waved come election time, especially considering the opposition (courtesy the JRJ Constitution) tends to be fragmented and weak.\u00a0 In general again the people seem reluctant to be passionate about the issue either way.\u00a0 If coalition glue is what it is considered to be by the opposition it\u2019s good enough of course.<\/p>\n

One thing that needs to be understood here is that big names usually come with big egos; the prominent believe they are not only the most qualified but have the best chance.\u00a0 They won\u2019t support a \u2018common candidate\u2019 if they felt that they could pull it off.\u00a0 If they feel that the election cannot be won then it is logical for them to back a loser for the simple reason that they won\u2019t have to be the fall guy.\u00a0 Someone else\u2019s political career will be over; that\u2019s consolation enough in reduced circumstances, obviously. That\u2019s a convenient galavijjava which both the UNP and JVP made use of in 2010.<\/p>\n

In this context a presidential election could be interesting if one of two people emerge as \u2018common candidate\u2019, Karu Jayasuriya<\/span><\/a> or Ranil Wickremesinghe<\/span><\/a>. If either of them contests it would indicate some degree of confidence. If not, it would be another Sarath Fonseka<\/span><\/a> fiasco. Entertaining it may be, but in the final instance made for a foregone conclusion.<\/p>\n

It would be even more interesting if the key players in the Opposition focus on a \u2018common program\u2019 and tell the Goverment, \u2018call the match and I will name the captain\u2019. As things stand it\u2019s \u2018We are in the process of picking the captain\u2019 without a match on the cards.\u00a0 That\u2019s sad.<\/p>\n

Ven Maduluwawe Sobitha<\/span><\/a> probably got it right when he said that this was a campaign that even President Rajapaksa<\/span><\/a> can join.\u00a0 Now that\u2019s being politically astute.<\/p>\n

*Malinda Seneviratne is the Chief Editor of \u2018The Nation\u2019\u00a0and his articles can be found at\u00a0www.malindawords.blogspot.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":105560,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-128350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\nThe \u2018Common Candidate\u2019 Drama - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-common-candidate-drama\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The \u2018Common Candidate\u2019 Drama - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-common-candidate-drama\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-07-26T18:30:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Malinda-Seneviratne-150x150.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"130\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"135\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-common-candidate-drama\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-common-candidate-drama\/\",\"name\":\"The \u2018Common Candidate\u2019 Drama - 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