India trounced Bangladesh at Chepauk, while at Galle, the Test is interestingly poised. Kiwis need 68 runs while Lanka need only 2 wickets on the final day. Rachin Ravindra led New Zealand's charge as they scored 194 runs in the final two sessions of day four in pursuit of their target of 275, but a fast-deteriorating Galle surface and relentless pressure from Sri Lanka's spinners meant they have only two wickets in hand to notch the remaining 68 runs. At stumps, Ravindra was unbeaten on 91 !
Interestingly, the first Test between Sri Lanka and New Zealand, for the first time in 16 years, featured a rest day, on what would have been the fourth day of the Test. In an era in which even four-day Tests feel like a hard-sell, it does seem weird to have a match that stretches across six days. The reason was Presidential polls in the host Nation Sri Lanka - while the New Zealand players relaxed at Galle's beaches, most Sri Lanka players travelled to their electorate to vote. Asitha Fernando had to travel 175 kms to his electorate near his hometown Katuneriya; many groundstaff, journalists, commentators, match officials, and board staff also traveled.
The itinerary for Test Series was fixed long before the election date was announced. And as New Zealand have a tight playing schedule - this series sandwiched between stints in India - the schedulers say the clash was pretty much unavoidable. Rest days were actually pretty common in Tests, right into the 1990s, not even unprecedented for Test matches to take a break for an election - the same thing happened in 2008, to allow for Bangladesh's parliamentary polls that year, also against Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka grabbed international headlines when the island’s economy took an unprecedented nosedive in 2022. The crisis also saw the swift emergence of a remarkable expression of public outrage combined with political activism, manifested through a spontaneous people’s protest movement, popularly known as the Aragalaya. During this period of anxious uncertainty, thousands of people queued up for gas and fuel while power cuts were extended daily. The antidote to the hopelessness of public angst was found in the Aragalaya, a unique political and cultural expression. Anti-establishment sentiments ran high, and the mounting pressure drove President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign and witnessed the immediate decline of the Rajapaksa family hold on national politics. People’s demands included not only Rajapaksa’s resignation but a complete overhaul.
Sri Lanka’s classic twin deficit problem dramatically escalated when President Gotabaya Rajapaksa resorted to rash policy decisions, including significant tax cuts, an abrupt ban on chemical fertilizers, and a failure to devise a plan to meet debt repayment deadlines, especially after foreign reserves dwindled in the wake of the pandemic and questionable policy. In April 2022, Sri Lanka announced it would default on its foreign loans as the “last resort”. As the imports-reliant country ran out of dollars, essential supplies were severely hit. People were forced to contend with long queues for fuel and gas, shortage of food and medicines and prolonged power cuts. With no solution in sight, citizens took to the streets.
Although the outgoing government of Mr. Gotabaya was considering seeking IMF assistance, it was only in March 2023 that the agreement for a $3-billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) was finalised by his successor Mr. Wickremesinghe.
On September 21, Sri Lanka held its first election after the Indian Ocean island's economy collapsed in 2022. Pre-poll media reports indicated that there were two frontrunners. One is the son of an ex-president who has done the hard yards. The other is a "commoner", who polled just 3% in the last presidential election but might make it to the top this time. Sajith Premadasa, 57, is the current Leader of Opposition in Parliament and the leader of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), a UNP breakaway group that has consolidated itself as an influential political party.
Dissanayake Mudiyanselage Anura Kumara Dissanayake (56) hails from Thambuttegama, in the North Central District of Anuradhapura. In his own words, "an aspirational youth who wanted to change the world", Dissanayake has consistently claimed that only a massive political transition can help Sri Lanka dig itself out from the current morass Dissanayake slowly rose within party ranks and was appointed to the JVP's decision-making body, the polit bureau, in 1998. When Sri Lanka's economy crashed in 2022, resulting in massive public protests where corruption and lack of accountability became prominent themes, the JVP found itself on friendly soil. Dissanayake has been steadfast in his criticism of cronyism, nepotism, concentration of power and corruption.
Dissanayake's main rival Sajith Premadasa, as a first-time legislator, unabashedly spoke of his ultimate political aspiration to become the country's president. He spoke about his readiness to get there, step by step, on merit. Twenty-four years later, running for presidency for the second time, Premadasa positioned himself as "well-trained, well-educated for the top job and supported by the most capable team" to lead the nation out of a political and economic crisis. His father, Ranasinghe Premadasa, was the island's president from 1989 to 1993 and is criticised for the brutal crushing of the second JVP insurgency of 1987-89. When President Premadasa was killed by an LTTE suicide bomber in 1993, Premadasa Jr, who was then completing his postgraduate studies at the University of Maryland, returned home and joined the UNP. There has been no looking back since then.
Sri Lanka elects on the national level a head of state – the president – and a legislature. Sri Lanka has a multi-party system, with two dominant political parties. All elections are administered by the Election Commission of Sri Lanka. The president is directly elected for a five-year term, through a version of Instant-runoff voting in which electors rank up to three candidates, and limited to only two rounds in total. The 2024 Sri Lankan presidential election was the ninth presidential election and was held on 21 September 2024. Incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe ran for re-election as an independent candidate, making him the first sitting president to run for re-election since Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2015. Other prominent candidates include Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa, Anura Kumara Dissanayake of the NPP, and Namal Rajapaksa, son of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Dissanayake Mudiyanselage Anura Kumara Dissanayake commonly referred to by his initials AKD, is the President-elect of Sri Lanka. He was a Member of Parliament from the Colombo District before the Presidential election, and is the current party leader of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (from 2014) and the National People's Power (from 2019). He was a candidate in 2019 Sri Lankan presidential election, and he was named the National People's Power presidential candidate for the 2024 Sri Lankan presidential election, campaigning on an anti-corruption platform in which he emerged as the winner. Here is the Indian High Commissioner at Srilanka Mr Santosh Jha greeting the president-elect
The first vote count concluded with no candidate winning a majority. Dissanayake won a plurality of the vote with 42.31%, followed by Premadasa with 32.76%. Incumbent president Wickremesinghe finished third, winning only 17.27% of the vote. Since no candidate won a majority, a second round of vote counting was held for the first time in Sri Lanka's history. After the second round, Dissanayake was declared the winner, winning 55.89% of the vote in the second round.
Election Commission Chairman RMAL Rathnayake said that Anura Kumara Dissanayake and Sajith Premadasa secured maximum votes in the presidential election. Since neither of them secured more than 50% of the vote, the second preference vote was counted and added to these two candidates.
In Sri Lanka, voters elect a single winner by ranking up to three candidates in order of preference. If a candidate receives an absolute majority, they will be declared the winner. If not, a second round of counting will commence, taking into account second- and third-choice votes.
Sri Lanka's first-past-the-post system allows voters to choose three candidates, with the candidate securing at least 50% or more of the overall vote declared the winner. No candidate won more than 50% of the total votes in the first round, where Dissanayake got 42.31% while his closest rival, opposition leader Sajith Premadasa, got 32.76%. Dissanayake, who promised voters good governance and tough anti-corruption measures, emerged as winner after the second count, which tallied voters' second and third choice candidates. Once preferences had been tallied, the Election Commission said he had won a total of 5,740,179 votes to Premadasa's 4,530,902.
According to their Election system, if no candidate obtains 50% or more, a second round of counting votes is to be considered. If in the 1st round the competition is between A and B, who placed first and second in the first round, respectively, all the remaining candidates are eliminated from competition. In the second round, the other preferences voted in the A and B voting papers, which obtained the first and second positions, are not considered. All the voting sheets of rest of the candidates is reckoned for the 2nd preference votes and counting done accordingly.
Wayback in 1979, when West Indies toured India, the last test – the 6th of that Series was played at Kanpur. Interestingly that test (No.845) played in Feb 1979 was scheduled to be a six day match between 2nd and 8th Feb 1979. It was a slow pitch, rain too interfered often – ironically even the first innings were not completed.It was to be the last match for many WI players.Alvin Greenidge not any relation to Gordon Greenidge opened in that match.That Kanpur Test brought end to many Cricketer’s careers while the ‘Six Day Test’ would ever be a history and most unlikely to be played for such a longer duration again !
The president of Sri Lanka is the elected head of state and the chief executive of Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon). The president is a dominant political figure in the country. The office was created in 1972, as more of a ceremonial position. It was empowered with executive powers by the 1978 Constitution introduced by J. R. Jayewardene. William Gopallawa MBE was the last Governor-General of Ceylon from 1962 to 1972 and the first and only non-executive President of Sri Lanka from 1972 to 1978, when Ceylon declared itself a republic and changed its name to Sri Lanka.
With regards – S Sampathkumar
22.9.2024
