The Presidential and Parliamentary elections have been held to give legitimacy to the post war government of President Rajapakse. Legitimacy to govern connotes the need to uphold democratic ideals and make democratic principles the foundation on which the collective and the individual functions in the State.

They, the people felt the pain – the pain of losing to the war their sons and daughters, sisters and brothers, nieces and nephews, children of their friends and children of their neighbours. Whole communities lived in pain or on the edge of pain for thirty long years, ‘etherised’ upon the canvas of life stretching into the depth of years, unraveling without the reckoning of events in time.

The lost prize for victory over terrorism is yet another example of how Sri Lankans turn, ever so often, success into near nonevent. Challenge to the State through terrorist activity has become the virus that erodes the foundation of many societies in modern political history. Much of the time, energy and money of the political leadership and their civil society are expended in the efforts to eliminate terrorism.