Elections: Focus on Sri Lanka and the US

With the Election Commission scheduled to announce any time now the date for the Presidential Election, political parties are expressing various views on forming different alliances, with President Ranil Wickremesinghe being at the centre of attention and being attacked by rival parties.
While this drama plays out in Sri Lanka, the world’s most powerful democracy, the United States is also facing a similar situation with incumbent President Joe Biden, a few days ago, announcing that he is pulling out of the presidential race and recommending that Vice President Kamala Harris be nominated for the election in November. Harris, who was sworn in as Vice President in 2021 was the first woman, the first Black American, and the first South Asian American to be elected to this position. If she wins the presidential race – and many independent analysts believe she has a good chance – Harris will be the first woman President of the US. Her rival, the Republican candidate Donald Trump, has been targeting President Biden all these months, mainly on the basis that he ruined the economy and is too old to run for the presidency. Now, the Trump camp is focusing its attacks on Harris and they are likely to bring in her race as she is of Indian origin. 

Instead of attacking and criticising, the Democratic and Republican parties will be able to achieve much more if they discuss each other’s views and visions in a friendly manner. That is possible when they realise their views are always relative and never absolute. With this perception, they will realise that the other party’s views are also relevant, and when they are put together, 1+1 will make 3 and not 2. It means, not only the US, but also the whole world will benefit because it is known that when the big powers are suffering from a cold, most of the world sneezes. 
From Sri Lanka’s point of view, a Harris victory will be more beneficial as she is of Indian origin, and the Democratic Party has often been known to be more sympathetic towards the third world. Independent young people not affiliated to the Democratic or Republican Parties are also known to prefer young candidates like Harris because though the Trump alliance is critical of President Biden’s age problems, Trump at 78 is the oldest presidential candidate in US history.
After being groomed by President Biden for almost four years, Harris is now coming to the forefront to speak out on issues ranging from Women’s Rights to major foreign crises like the war in Israel and Palestine and Russia’s attack on Ukraine. 

According to foreign media, at her first rally, Harris had gone on the offensive against Trump stating that the November’s election was a choice between a former prosecutor and a convicted felon. Harris had also likened her Republican opponent to fraudsters she had prosecuted. The BBC quoted Harris as saying, “I took on perpetrators of all kinds. Predators who abused women. Fraudsters who ripped off consumers. Cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain. So hear me when I say I know Donald Trump’s type. In this campaign, I promise you, I will proudly put my record against his any day of the week.”
It was also reported that Trump had posted on social media: “Lyin’ Kamala Harris destroys everything she touches!”
Meanwhile, a poll from Reuters and Ipsos revealed that Harris has a two-point lead over Trump at 44% to 42%.
Former US President John Quincy Adams has said that If there have been those who doubted whether a confederated representative democracy were a government competent to the wise and orderly management of the common concerns of a mighty nation, those doubts have been dispelled.