Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesighe and former president Mahinda Rajapaksa both visited the Temple of the Tooth on Tuesday, to get blessings ahead of the general elections in a month’s time.

Mr Wickremesinghe, alongside senior members of his alliance, including, the JHU’s Champika Ranawaka, Rajitha Senaratne, Karu Jayasuriya, Lakshman Kiriella, Arjuna Ranatunga and Malik Samarawickrama, engaged in discussions with the chief prelate of the Malwathu chapter, Thibbatuwaw Sri Sumangala.

Incumbent Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena vowed to defeat the former president Mahinda Rajapaksa in the upcoming Sri Lankan general elections

"I continue to stand against Mahinda Rajapaksa," said Mr Sirisena, adding that "he will be defeated again". The current president went on to state that he was against the nomination of Mr Rajapaksa under the ruling UPFA coalition. However former president Rajapaksa indicated he will be running for the post of prime minister with the UPFA, after having submitted his nomination papers, despite Mr Sirisena being the coalition leader.

The move has stirred unrest and criticism in the UPFA, with many high level defections and criticism of the president in recent weeks. Mr Sirisena responded by saying he applauded the criticism, which he said was only possible to his election victory earlier this year.

However he went on to warn that the freedom that he claimed to restore "should be enjoyed with a sense of responsibility".

The Tamil National People’s Front has filed its nomination for the Jaffna electoral district earlier today.
The party, which will contest under the All Ceylon Tamil Congress’ bicycle symbol, is standing in all 5 electoral districts in the North-East.

Three female candidates are amongst those contesting Jaffna, with the party fielding at least two female candidates in the other districts, making it the party with the most female candidates in the North-East.

The candidates are:

The Sri Lankan military hosted an Indonesian government delegation this week and showcased the “success” it has had in rehabilitating former LTTE cadres.

The commander of Sri Lanka’s army met with the five member Indonesian delegation, as they listened to a lecture on the “rehabilitation” programme the Sri Lankan government has in place for former LTTE fighters.

A report last year detailed the programme of physical and psychological torture in Sri Lanka’s “rehabilitation” camps for former LTTE members.

Tamils Against Genocide (TAG) gathered evidence from former detainees, who detailed systematic torture, beatings, humiliation and sexual abuse in the camps, and concluded that rehabilitation in Sri Lanka is a “physical and mental pacification programme that forms a cornerstone of the Sinhala-Buddhist nationalist state-building project”.

Major General Hettiarachchi however told the Indonesian delegation that Sri Lanka was ”taking all necessary efforts in transforming the minds of those brainwashed combatants from violence to non-violence and enlightened them on the value of life and correct social commitments while living in harmony with all as law-abiding citizens of one country”.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS) said they were “alarmed” at a move by Sri Lankan President Maithripala to revive the government’s much criticised Press Council.

Benjamin Ismaïl, the head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk, said,

“By reviving this mechanism for harassing the Sri Lankan media, President Sirisena is dashing the hopes raised by his election and is again placing the media under a permanent threat of authoritarian abuses”.

“We urge the president to rescind this decision and instead to begin a complete overhaul of the Press Council with the aim of turning it into an entity that guarantees media independence,” he added.

JDS also said, “the government’s move to re-enact the controversial legislation reinforces serious and legitimate fears, as the desire to curtail media freedom always reflects anti-democratic intentions”.

Sri Lanka’s former president Mahinda Rajapaksa will run for the post of prime minister at the upcoming general election on August 17 reports Reuters.

Allies of Rajapaksa told Reuters that the former president will stand for the post of prime minister whilst seeking to be elected in the island’s third largest electoral district, Kurungala.

Speaking on the phone to Reuters after handing over the nomination documents on Monday, Mahinda Rajapaksa, said,

“Today, people wants a change. I’m leading the campaign with President Sirisena as the chairman of the party to form a Sri Lanka Freedom Party-led government.”

The UNP and the UPFA have announced their final nominations for the general elections, to be held on August 17.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will contest for the UNP led alliance from Colombo, alongside finance minister Rav Karunanayake, Harsha de Silva, Mano Ganeshan and the head of the JHU, a party led by Buddhist monks, Champika Ranawaka.

For President Maithripala Sirisena's UPFA, the capital will be contested by party heavyweights and Mahinda-loyalists, General Secretary Susil Premajayantha, chief whip in the last parliament, Dinesh Gunawardena and Wimal Weerawansa of the NFF.