Representing Sri Lanka, a large number of Sri Lankans born in Sri Lanka live in various parts of the world. Thousands of people took to the streets around the world to demand the resignation of the Sri Lankan government over the ongoing conflict. They also stated that they would send dollars to Sri Lanka if the Rajapaksa regime, including Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, ended Sri Lanka’s demand, and it remains the same today. Such powerful Sri Lankans were emerging day by day all over the world.
In this story, her name is Cassandra Fernando. The 34-year-old moved there in 1999. She was 11 years old at the time. She is contesting the general election from the Australian state of Victoria. She was accompanied by three other Sri Lankans. She contested from the Labor Party and her opponent, Mr. Ranj Perera, who represented the Liberal Party, was also a Sri Lankan who ran for office from the Liberal Party.
Cassandra Fernando polled 40,182 votes while Ranj Perera polled 29,732 votes. The other Sri Lankan who competed was Virosh Perera. He ran for the Skullin seat in the state of Victoria. He received 17,385 votes. But he lost to Gilles Andrew, who received 33,604 Labor votes.
Accordingly, Cassandra Fernando went down in history as the first Sri Lankan woman to represent the Australian Parliament. We congratulate her and extend our respect and congratulations to the other two contestants, Ranj Perera and Virosh Perera, who shone with the Sri Lankan name.