Days after President Ranil Wickremesinghe announced his candidacy in the September Presidential Election, 92 Parliamentarians, mostly from the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) met Wickremesinghe last evening and pledged their support to him.
At every presidential election , it is a common phenomenon to see a dozen of candidates or more. Still the contest narrows down to two main candidates and the third one becomes a distant third as per the results of the previous elections.
Dr. Jayampathi Wickramaratne , the former MP who played a key role in drafting the 19th Amendment , said the upper limit of the term of President and Parliament as mentioned in Article 83 of the Constitution was not touched at that time only to avoid a referendum, and therefore it is regretted that President Ranil Wickremesinghe placing the blame solely on him for the constitutional error.
Sri Lanka Customs yesterday interdicted four of its senior officials attached to the Central Cargo Examination Directorate for being involved in a major fraud of releasing an illicit goods container to its importer by preparing fraudulent documents, the Daily Mirror learns.
Amidst speculation surrounding the escape of underworld figure Kanjipani Imran, who is implicated in the Athurugiriya shooting incident, Public Security Minister Tiran Alles stated that the lawyers who represented Kanjipani played a pivotal role in facilitating his departure from the country immediately following his release on bail.
Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa made 978 flights using Air Force helicopters under presidential privilege for domestic flights between 2005 and 2015, while former President Maithripala Sirisena flew 557 times during his five-year tenure, information obtained from the Sri Lanka Air Force Headquarters under the Right to Information has revealed.
A representative from the Starlink satellite system, founded by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk of SpaceX and Tesla, visited Sri Lanka this week and is set to return next week to complete the final stages of obtaining the necessary licence for operations in the country.
The government has limited its bilateral engagements including entertaining foreign leaders except Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi within the next couple of months because of the presidential elections, Daily Mirror learns.
Amidst concerns raised by various parties about the Election Commission’s ability to conduct the impending Presidential election due to legal and financial obstacles, Election Commission chairman R.M.A.L. Rathnayake has emphasized that currently there are no such barriers.
Investigations with regard to the shooting in Athurugiriya where two persons including Club Wasantha were killed, revealed that two underworld criminals, ’Loku Patti’ and ’Gona Kovile Shantha,’ currently hiding in Dubai, directly orchestrated the operation to kill Club Wasantha.
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