Sri Lanka, Aug. 12 -- The new Parliament sees a sea change in the way the people have approached the task of electing their representatives. Career politicians and old faces are there among the large body of elected representatives in the SLPP, but that's half of the story.

The success of the SLPP was that it rose up to the challenge of populating their list with brave new faces to undertake a brand new journey. The SLPP was the party of innovation, whereas the SJB and others went back in time and dredged the most soggy time-worn detritus of a candidate-base to populate their own lists.

By contrast, the Podujana Peramuna was attuned to the public mood. After five years of a Parliament that began to look with every passing day like some ...