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AKD is still in the lead, says Institute for Health Policy poll
ECONOMYNEXT —National People’s Power (NPP) leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake had support among 50 percent of all adults surveyed by the Institute for Health Policy (IHP) in December 2023 in a monthly voting intent poll for Sri Lanka’s upcoming presidential election.
Support for Dissanayake had dropped just 1 percentage point since December 2023, according to the Institute for Health Policy (IHP)’s Sri Lanka Opinion Tracker Survey (SLOTS) MRP provisional estimates.
Main opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya leader Sajith Premadasa had the support of 36 percent (+2) of the adults surveyed, while both President Ranil Wickremesinghe and a generic Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) had the support of 7 percent each.
Dissanayake’s National People’s Power (NPP) continued to lead a separate general election voting intentions poll, also carried out by IHP, for January at 40 percent of adult voters surveyed supporting the party, with the SJB in second place at 30 percent.
The presidential poll estimates are based on the January 2024 revision of the IHP SLOTS Multilevel Regression and Poststratification (MRP) model, which smoothed monthly changes and reduced monthly fluctuations due to sampling noise, IHP said in a statement.
This update is for all adults and is based on a revised MRP model using data from 15,590 interviews conducted from October 2021 to 26 February 2024, with 506 interviews during January 2024. IHP said 100 model iterations were run to capture model uncertainty, with margins of error assessed as 1–3 perce t for January.
“IHP’s SLOTS MRP methodology first estimates the relationship between a wide variety of characteristics about respondents and their opinions – in this case, ‘If there was a Presidential Election today, who would you vote for?’– in a multilevel statistical model. It then uses a large data file that is calibrated to the national population to predict voting intent in each month since October 2021, according to what the multilevel model says about their probability of voting for various parties (‘post-stratification’) at each point in time. The multilevel model was estimated 100 times to reflect underlying uncertainties in the model and to obtain margins of error,” the institute said.
Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath will represent Sri Lanka at the funeral of Pope Francis in the Vatican City, the Ministry said.
The funeral is scheduled for today.
About 50,000 people came to pay their respects to the late Pope on Thursday, the Vatican news service said.
“Pope Francis’ funeral Mass will take place on Saturday, April 26, at 10:00 AM in St. Peter’s Square, marking the beginning of the Novemdiales, an ancient tradition of nine days of mourning and Masses for the repose of the late Pope’s soul,” according to the Vatican news service.
“The Novemdiales Masses will be held each day at 5:00 PM (GMT +2) in St. Peter’s Basilica, except for the Mass on Divine Mercy on Sunday, April 27, which will take place at 10:30 AM in St. Peter’s Square.”
An underworld hitman who attempted to break into a house in the Andiambalama area of Katunayake to kill a businessman was arrested in Rajanganaya by the police and the Special Task Force (STF) on Thursday night after the attempt failed and he escaped by jumping over a wall.
Investigations have revealed that this individual is connected to a number of murders, including the recent killing of a businessman known as “Indikatu Jude” in the Seeduwa area a few weeks ago, as well as several other criminal activities.
Police said that the suspect was responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a man sleeping in a three-wheeler in the Gampaha area and attempting to assassinate another person at the Negombo market.
The suspect arrived in Andiambalama with another underworld assassin to murder a businessman engaged in money lending from his residence.
At the time of the incident, the businessman attempted to close his electric gate. The contract killer and his accomplice tried to shoot the businessman, but their weapon malfunctioned and did not fire. A struggle ensued between the businessman and the two assailants, after which the assailants tried to escape by jumping over the wall of the house as the would-be victim ran into the house.
During the escape, one of the suspects fell from the wall and fractured a bone in his leg. Local residents captured him after assaulting him and handed him over to the police.
The other contract killer managed to flee the scene but was later apprehended in the Rajanganaya area.Investigations are being carried out under the supervision of Negombo Division SSP Ashoka Dharmasena.
By Hemantha Randunu
The Committee of Inquiry investigating IGP T.M.W. Deshabandu Tennakoon over alleged gross abuse of power has formally requested the Acting IGP to nominate a police investigation team to assist its work. The request was made during the Committee’s second meeting, held yesterday (25 April) in the Parliamentary complex.
The Attorney General has appointed Additional Solicitor General (President’s Counsel) Dileepa Peiris, and Deputy Solicitor General Rajitha Perera, to support the Committee’s proceedings.
At the session, the Committee held initial discussions on how to proceed with the investigation and involve key stakeholders. It was agreed that the next meeting will be held on 28 April, 2025, to decide on the next steps.
Fairly heavy rain fall about 75 mm is likely at some places in Central, Uva and Eastern provinces and in Vavuniya and Polonnaruwa districts
Foreign Minister Herath will attend Pope’s funeral today
Underworld hitman who escaped after failing to kill businessman caught
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