Sri Lankan leaders’ time is up: political soothsayerMYSTIC POLITICS: Former Sri Lankan president Premadasa used a magical ritual to ward off his impeachment in 1991, but it did not protect him from assassination two years laterAFP, COLOMBOGenerations of Sri Lankan leaders have sought guidance from seers and astrologers, and now one has dared tell the ruling Rajapaksa family that their time in office is up. Images of soothsayers standing alongside top administration figures have been shared on social media by protesters calling on them to urge Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to stand down. A family carrying placards and a Sri Lankan flag walk along a road to a protest outside the entrance of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s office in Colombo yesterday. Astrologer Dayasena Athukorale holds up an ola leaf horoscope of an unidentified customer at his home in Makola, Sri Lanka, on Wednesday. The Rajapaksa brothers are only the latest in a long tradition of Sri Lankan leaders balancing otherworldly advice with that of technocrats and civil servants.

Source: Taipei Times April 14, 2022 17:03 UTC