"Politics Is a Terrible Game"

President Chandrika Kumaratunga, the daughter of two Prime Ministers, has been a member of Sri Lanka's First Family for half a century and President since 1994. She spoke to TIME's Alex Perry at President's House in Colombo.

TIME: What will the upcoming general election decide?
KUMARATUNGA: The main issue is good governance and achieving a true and durable peace, not this farce of a peace process. The Prime Minister [Ranil Wickremesinghe] fooled everybody—the L.T.T.E. [Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam], the people, the President and even a large number of Cabinet ministers—[by] saying everything was fine....