As Sri Lanka struggles with outstanding foreign debt, rural households across the country have been living off borrowings after exhausting their savings. Meera Srinivasan reports on how those already struggling with severe economic hardships are now grappling with a pandemic-induced crisis After doing seven jobs in the last three years in and around …
To say that the political decimation of the parties that claim to speak for the Sri Lankan Tamils has been completed is an understatement. It was a rout. The Tamil National Alliance was all but swept away in the unprecedented flood of support that marked …
The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP)-led alliance secured 151 of 225 seats in Sri Lanka’s August 2020 parliamentary polls. With this victory, former President, Mahinda Rajapaksa (MR), has returned to power, and was sworn in as the prime minister on 9 August. With his brother …
Twice postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic, Sri Lankans finally voted on Wednesday, 5 August in the country’s parliamentary election. Alan Keenan (LSE Centre for Women, Peace and Security and International Crisis Group) explains why the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna’s (SLPP) electoral victory should be understood …
The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils (APPGT) in the UK has called upon Britain’s Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, to implement sanctions against senior Sri Lankan officials. In their letter dated 12 August 2020 the Foreign Secretary to Raab, the APPGT emphasises that the UK has …
On Aug. 5, Sri Lankans put on masks and voted in South Asia’s first major election since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Public health officials were present at every polling center. In mine, people in lines were spaced out by black tape on the …
the August 5, 2020 elections in Sri Lanka has been a turning point: first, it was organised amidst opposition and fear of COVID-19 pandemic in which over 71 percent of electorates voted; second, it set an example before the countries where elections are scheduled in …
The Mahinda Rajapaksa-led Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP, Sri Lanka People’s Front) has swept the August 5, 2020, Parliamentary Elections. SLPP received 6,853,693 votes (59.09 percent) and secured 128 electoral seats. The Sajith Premadasa-led Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB, United National Power), the breakaway faction of the former Prime Minister …
The general elections on 5 August turned out to be an outstanding victory for the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), the Rajapaksa Family and the Sinhala Buddhist nationalists representing both the elite and ordinary members of the country’s majority community. Despite many allegations made about …
Ahead of Sri Lanka’s parliamentary elections, the Tamil Guardian interviewed leaders from Tamil political parties contesting in the North-East, to discuss the most important issues that the Tamil homeland faces today. In this interview, we speak to the leader of the Thamizh Makkal Thesya Kootanii …