Sri Lanka It's Happening

April 17, 2004

The former minister of foriegn affairs - Tyronne Fernando is one of the few people to have held a ministry and not have serius allegations of bribery and corruption made against him. He has been denied a seat in the national list apparently because he kept his nose clean.

Each party that wins a certain percentage of votes at a general election is allowed to nominate a member of parliament on the national list - the idea is that distinguished persons who can contribute through parlimentary affairs but not well equipped to contest elections can enter parliament this way.

Having said that Mr Fernando is well equipped to contest an election being a popular character in his home town, had he contested he would surely have been elected, instead his name was put on the nation list. Since the UNP didn't get that many seats from the list mr Fernando has been denied a chance to enter the parliament.