COLOMBO: Given the general perception that the January 8 presidential election will see a photo finish, astrologers and opinion pollsters have jumped into the fray egged on by the two principal candidates, Mahinda Rajapaksa and Maithripala Sirisena.
However, not surprisingly, these predictions, whether based on planetary positions or statistical data, have contradicted each other sharply. Given tension in the air, innuendos have been flung at the astrologers. And the circulation of forged or unauthorized surveys have led to angry refutations from their supposed sponsors.
Astrologer P D Perera predicts that Sirisena will win because Sri Lanka’s horoscope shows the onset of a radical change of the type seen in 1956 when the coming into power of SWRD Bandaranaike turned Lanka into a Sinhalese-Buddhist polity. At present, Srisena stands for radical change, while Rajapaksa stands for the old order, Perera told Daily Mirror.
On the other hand, Sumanadasa Abeygunawardena predicts a victory for Rajapaksa on the basis of his horoscope. “All subha muhurthas for the President in relation to this election have come right quite naturally, as if by divine intervention,” he said.
And Rajapaksa had invariably had success when he went by the number 8 and this time, too the election is to be held on the 8 th, Abeygunawardena noted. To debunk Abeygunawardena’s prediction, one daily said that he had realized his folly and had suffered a heart attack. Subsequently, the paper retracted the story.
A survey purportedly done by “Colombo University” said that Sirisena will win with a 53 per cent vote. But this was denied by the university authorities who said that it was not a “university” survey by any means.
Meanwhile, a Keleniya University survey said that Rajapaksa will win by 53 per cent!