As Sri Lanka approaches its presidential election on 16 November, popular online memes (once again) run a biting line of commentary tangential to that found in traditional journalism. Everything is to play for – from candidates' political histories and behaviour, to that of their entourages and media houses openly partisan in their coverage. We give you a selection from the web that provides a snapshot and paint a less-than-flattering picture.
In the meme above, the person on the left is labelled 'Indian Tamils' while the person on the right has the label 'Eazha Tamil', (a reference to the Sri Lankan Tamil community). Both say: "We both don't want the lotus". The lotus flower is the symbol of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), the main challenger to the ruling United National Party (UNP) as it is of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), currently in power in India (but largely rejected by Tamil Nadu voters).