evidence: And then we have Mr Dissanayake’s explanation that no election laws had been violated by his attending the National Convention of Nurses in Maharagama. That was argued to be a trade union meeting organized by the ‘Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna’ (JVP or the NPP’s political avatar as the case may be) which the NPP presidential candidate attended as a ‘guest’ (in actual fact, the ‘chief guest.’) [...] That only conjured up ugly reminders of the bane of politicization of the public sector which has crucified Sri Lanka for much of its post-independence history. And here again, the NPP’s Presidential candidate directed his annoyance at polls monitors questioning this spectacle by asking as to why fingers were not being pointed at political events held at schools or President Wickremesinghe’s whole host of state-sponsored welfare and development programmes which continue even after his entering the election fray as an ‘independent’ candidate.