Centre for Policy Alternatives

11/08/2026

or more than a decade, Sri Lanka has been without elected Provincial Councils, raising concerns about representative governance, democratic accountability, and the effective functioning of the country's devolved system of government.
CMEV reiterates the importance of holding Provincial Council Elections without further undue delay. Addressing the remaining legal and procedural challenges, while setting out a clear and credible roadmap for elections, is essential to safeguarding the democratic rights of citizens and strengthening constitutional governance.
Speaking to the media alongside several election observation organizations, CMEV Co-Convener Dr. Pakiyasothy Saravanamuttu stressed that prolonged delays risk undermining public confidence in democratic institutions, adding that it is time to restore elected Provincial Councils and renew democratic representation at the provincial level.

For more than a decade, Sri Lanka has been without elected Provincial Councils, raising concerns about representative governance, democratic accountability, and the effective functioning of the country's devolved system of government.

CMEV reiterates the importance of holding Provincial Council Elections without further undue delay. Addressing the remaining legal and procedural challenges, while setting out a clear and credible roadmap for elections, is essential to safeguarding the democratic rights of citizens and strengthening constitutional governance.

Speaking to the media alongside several election observation organizations, CMEV Co-Convener Dr. Pakiyasothy Saravanamuttu stressed that prolonged delays risk undermining public confidence in democratic institutions, adding that it is time to restore elected Provincial Councils and renew democratic representation at the provincial level.

11/08/2026

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ බන්ධනාගාර නීතිය සහ පද්ධතිය අද සමාජයට ගැළපෙන ආකාරයෙන් ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණය විය යුත්තේ කෙසේද? බන්ධනාගාර තුළ පවතින ගැටලු සඳහා නීතිමය සහ ප්‍රතිපත්තිමය විසඳුම් මොනවාද?

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ බන්ධනාගාර නීතිය, රැඳවියන්ගේ අයිතිවාසිකම් සහ බන්ධනාගාර පද්ධතියේ ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණ පිළිබඳව නීති පර්යේෂක ඩී. එම්. දිසානායක මහතා සමඟ සිදු කළ VOC Podcast විශේෂ සංවාදය.

සාකච්ඡාවට එකතු වෙන්න
ලින්ක් එක පලවෙනි කමෙන්ටුවේ

10/08/2026

CPA Seminar on Judicial Independence is now available on YouTube.

Click the link below or scan/long touch the QR code to watch all three videos.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbrvOGHSuByk

09/08/2026

According to Government sources, Sri Lanka's prisons currently hold more than 40,000 inmates despite having capacity for only around 10,000. Such conditions inevitably heighten tensions, undermine safety, and increase the risk of violence.

The unfortunate events of recent weeks is a reminder of the persistent socio-economic inequalities faced by sections of society and the inadequate resources to address long standing issues.

Read the full statement by CPA
https://www.cpalanka.org/?p=9467

05/08/2026

මහ බැංකුව හසුරුවන EPF අරමුදලේ ආයෝජන සහ දේශපාලන පොරොන්දු මැද ඇති සත්‍යය
මහ බැංකුව මගින් අරමුදල් ආයෝජනය කිරීමේදී මතුවන ගැටලු සහ මැතිවරණ ප්‍රතිපත්ති ප්‍රකාශයන්හි ඒ පිළිබඳව ඇති විස්තරාත්මක හිඩැස පිළිබඳව කෙටි විග්‍රහයක්

මේ පොඩ්කාස්ට් එක අහන්න/ බලන්න
https://youtu.be/9HlHDcXkdaQ
https://podcasts.apple.com/lk/podcast/the-alternative/id6792716870?i=1000777541993
https://music.youtube.com/podcast/sJJucqXuAyo

04/08/2026

This Topline Report presents the findings of the Confidence in Democratic Governance Index (Wave 7) survey conducted by Social Indicator (SI), the survey research arm of the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA), followed by the survey's key findings.

Since assuming office, the NPP government led by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has continued to navigate the friction between its campaign promises and the complex realities of governance. The government continue to face a series of long-standing challenges, including persistent calls for accountability over issues such as the Easter Sunday attack, the long-delayed Provincial Council elections. Alongside fresh challenges posed by the lingering effects of Cyclone Ditwah and the rising cost of living. The poll was designed against this backdrop to capture the public sentiments on the Country's current state of governance and key issues of public interest.

Read the full report from the link below
https://www.cpalanka.org/topline-report-confidence-in-democratic-governance-index-wave-7/

03/08/2026

EPF අරමුදල සහ මහ බැංකුවේ ආයෝජන ක්‍රියාවලිය ඔබේ අනාගතය සුරක්ෂිත කරනවා ද?

සේවක අර්ථසාධක අරමුදල කළමනාකරණය කරන අතරතුර රජයේ බැඳුම්කර නිකුත් කිරීම සහ වෙළඳපොළ නියාමනය කිරීමේදී මහ බැංකුව මුහුණ දෙන බැඳියාවන් අතර ඝට්ටනය සහ අරමුදලේ වර්ධනය කෙරෙහි එහි බලපෑම පිළිබඳ ගැඹුරු විග්‍රහයක්.

මේ පොඩ්කාස්ට් එක අහන්න/ බලන්න
https://youtu.be/9HlHDcXkdaQ
https://podcasts.apple.com/lk/podcast/the-alternative/id6792716870?i=1000777541993
https://music.youtube.com/podcast/sJJucqXuAyo

24/07/2026

Dr. Asanga Welikala, CPA Senior Research Fellow, and Director of the CPA Constitution Unit and the CPA-ECCL Programme on Comparative Constitutional Studies and Practice, was recently appointed to a visiting lectureship at the Faculty of Law of the University of Oxford.

He was nominated to this academic honour by Timothy Endicott, Vinerian Professor of English Law, and Richard Ekins, Professor of Law and Constitutional Government. During his three-year term at Oxford, Dr Welikala will contribute to the teaching of comparative constitutional law, constitutional theory, and Commonwealth constitutional history in the BCL and MJur degree programmes.

In research, he will contribute to new initiatives on Commonwealth Constitutionalism, including through the Programme for the Foundations of Law and Constitutional Government.

During this time, he retains his substantive post as Senior Lecturer in Public Law and Associate Director of the Edinburgh Centre for Constitutional Law at the School of Law of the University of Edinburgh, in addition to his roles at CPA and as Senior Research Fellow of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London.

Dr Welikala first joined CPA in January 2000.

24/07/2026

To preserve a building is not necessarily to celebrate the political order that produced it. Rather, it is to acknowledge that the physical fabric of history forms part of a society’s cultural inheritance.

For this reason, colonial buildings, particularly great buildings of state such as official residences, government houses, and country estates associated with public authority, should generally be preserved.

Moreover, the most significant of these buildings should continue to be owned, maintained, and used by the state rather than being privatised and converted into commercial enterprises.

Their value lies not merely in their architectural merit but in their continuing role as symbols of national continuity, public memory, and constitutional identity.

Read the full statement
https://www.cpalanka.org/?p=9453

22/07/2026

EPF අරමුදලට අදාළ විවිද ගැටලු වැඩ කරන ජනතාවගේ ඉතුරුම්වලට බලපාන්නේද කොහොම ද?

වීඩියෝව නරඹන්න 👇
https://youtu.be/9HlHDcXkdaQ