One wonders which part of the CMC election fiasco the UNP voter base failed to foresee. At the outset, the public were very much aware that the UNP itself was undecided on who it should declare as its mayoral candidate.

The UNP leader himself cited that Sirisena Cooray was too old for the job. At 80 years , we can understand Ranil Wickremasinghe's reservations. Yet Cooray had already begun his campaign and the electronic media was already featuring him as the next Mayor of Colombo.

The election fiasco increased during nomination time with the UNP’s nomination list being rejected – because they had fielded a candidate who was underage. Now we were privy to a conspiracy theory – but where did the conspiracy originate from? It was inevitably within the UNP.

Cooray’s determination did not desist and the next move was to quickly strike a deal with Independent Group 3. The deal meant that the UNP would use the numbers of the Independent Group 3 candidates and canvass amongst the UNP voter base to vote for that number and with elections over, the Independent Group candidate would step down and hand over the mantle to the UNP candidate. `A0`A0`A0`A0

The Election Commissioner on his part quickly explained in clear and precise terms how the elections would proceed and that there was no room for any transfer of powers. Not many believed the voter would fall for this Cooray-led fairy-tale campaign. After all, Colombo was supposed to hold the highest density of literates.

Did any of the UNP voters ever wonder whether once elected, a candidate could transfer powers to another not included in the nomination list? Didn’t they know that the Local Government Ordinance Law specifically stated that power is not transferable unlike in parliamentary elections?

Surely Cooray, a one-time mayor himself, should have been aware of this or at least the top UNP lawyers should have known the details? Have the voters forgotten how the Jathika Hela Urumaya bhikkus, who contested the general elections under a "gentlemanagreement" that they would stand down and pave the way for the laymen to take their seats refused to do so.

A surprising number of voters suddenly seem to have not gone to vote – but how would that explain the thousands of votes cast for Uvais Mohamed Imthiyaz`A0 - a 23 year old trishaw driver by profession. Obviously Uvais’s number would have been used by the proxy UNP candidate and the UNP voter failed to read the name against the number he/she was casting the vote for.

Uvais Mohamed Imthiyaz would never have in his dreams dreamt of a situation such as the one he is faced with – to be declared the First Citizen and Mayor of Colombo. While most are dismayed at the possible outcome even some of his fellow trishaw drivers, though pleased, admit that one requires "intellect, education and experience" to govern.

We are pretty much aware of the happenings inside parliament where it is supposed to be represented by people with such traits. But history would smile at the fallacies, idiosyncrasies and fiascos that have become part and parcel of parliamentary, we should not be too quick to judge Uvais Mohamed Imthiyaz – after all he was voted into position by the voter.

We may now be faced with a rare yet comical situation in which Cooray has declared himself the advisor to a "remote-controlled" Mayor of Colombo (Uvais Mohamed), who hereafter will possibly follow each and every instruction of Cooray.`A0