August promises and contenders: UNF for 5 points in 5 years; JVP offers Accord of Conscience; UPFA?
New Left Opposition
by Rajan Philips-July 25, 2015, 7:11 pm
The August election is a non-issue election in the traditional sense. There are no burning constitutional, economic, or ethno-national issues in the campaign. The 19th Amendment for all its imperfections has put a lid on the constitutional debate in this election. The economy is a serious matter, but there is no serious debate over the economy other than the unedifying bickering about the Central Bank bond scandal. So is the Tamil question, but there is studied silence about it, almost an August calm before the September storm. As in January, the August election is again about corruption and is a second referendum on Mahinda Rajapaksa. He asked for the first and got the verdict in January, and has forced the appeal against it in August. But the August appeal is not catching as much public fire as the January trial did.