Ranil Wins An Election (For UNP Leader)
So, there was a bit of suspense, but things are exactly the same today. There was an election for UNP Leader, after the working committee was suitably cleansed, and I think MPs voted also. Despite (perhaps a bit because of) getting a beating in the press, Ranil won that internal election. Karu lost and Sajith pussed out and sat it out. So, Ranil wins and the UNP is free to lose some more elections.
There is an insane amount of politics within the opposition, and I don’t think that it’s going to stop. The actual contender for Opposition Leader is Sajith Premadasa, but he insists on running Karu Jayasuriya as a proxy. He works with Sirasa TV pretty intensively to slam Ranil, to not much avail. Ranil has the largely unpopular types like Ravi Karunayake and seemingly enough MPs to remain. While there are a lot of reasons to vote against Ranil, there weren’t too many to vote for Karu.
Plus, it seems unlikely that Ranil would call a vote he couldn’t win, and it seems that Sajith set Karu up as a sort of patsy. Or perhaps the government paid off MPs to vote for Ranil, thus keeping the UNP divided and their majority stable. Any number of conspiracy theories abound. I dunno, it could just be what it looks like and Ranil is really popular and the UNP will be in government next year. But I think not.
It also seems that people were attacking and stoning the UNP headquarters, but I’m not sure for what cause or what side.
Posted on Monday, December 19th, 2011 in Politics, Sri Lanka.
Mohsin Hamid, author of How To Get Filthy Rich In Rising Asia, has a nice 
I’m happy to be featured in Echelon magazine’s 40 Under 40 feature, profiling young people who contribute to the economy in some way, mainly in business but also in terms of innovation and thought leadership. It’s an interesting article not just in that I’m in it (mainly for work on indi.ca and 
I won’t add too much commentary, but just read I guess. The youngest Rajapaksa, Rohitha (Chi Chi) has given an amazing interview to the 
In 2009 this strange character appeared on the Sri Lankan Internet scene, getting angry, flaming, trolling whatever. Then he started naming anonymous bloggers, posting comments as people’s kids, nasty stuff, for which I removed him from 
Basically, this means the UNP is totally screwed :) Good for the present administration I suppose.
LMAO!
“Thousands of supporters from the Sajith Premadasa faction stormed into the Sirikotha building breaking down the gates after hearing the outcome of the election for the party leadership. The main fence of the building was also damaged during the commotion.”
“The angry mob pelted stones and bottles at the police and the UNP headquarters opposing the election of Ranil Wickremasinghe as party leader. The unrest has resulted in heavy traffic congestion in the area.”
http://www.colombopage.com/archive_11B/Dec19_1324305652JR.php
Is this what they call “the grand old party”?
I was at work when we received the news alert. The mood in the room just nose dived. Is a decent opposition too much to ask for in this country?
Ranil has definitely written the longest suicide note in history.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_longest_suicide_note_in_history
There is overwhelming opinion in Colombo that Ranil is bad for the UNP. However amongst the UNP elected delegates in the country it is still in RW favor over Sajith 55.45. In the Working Committee however it overwhelming for RW. In the village and street level it is still 50.50.
However RW is ready to quit today, if there is a person who can call it at 75.25 at the village level. When a suitable leader emerges who can win an election RW will quit. Sajith has more skeletons than Ranil and what he did to KJ will not endear him to anyone, further reducing his star rating. So RW remains as the best of a bad lot.
take it from me as fact!!!
Take a look at the baboons of the UNP:
http://www.dailymirror.lk/caption-story/15559-calling-for-calm.html
Doing what they do best I suppose.
They are Baboons right, enough.
I’m beginning to think that Ranil may have bought the votes or at least some of them, perhaps with some help from the the treasury. he could not have got quite such a good result otherwise, I think a lot of people see him as a weak leader.
ppl don’t vote for sajjith b’se they are scared of him. UNPyrs in his district accuse him of being a “dictator” and a bully in his own way.
and lets admit it. He acts like his father. and what v all know what his dad did after he got power.so may b ppl r afraid that its another Premadasa in making.