Sri Lanka has decided. Through democratic franchise at the Presidential and Parliamentary Elections of this year, the citizenry has sent a clear and strong signal of a clear change that they desire a change in the political landscape in Sri Lanka. 

The Indian Ocean island, having elected Anura Kumara Dissanayake as its 9th Executive President on 21 September, moved quickly to give Dissanayake and the JVP-led National People’s Power (NPP) coalition an unprecedented majority in the Parliament. The depth of the change which the Sri Lankans have voted for, will be hard to coin into a few words. It is a tectonic change, politically speaking. Let us hope that the new Government doesn’t let down the aspirations of the voters and the unique mandate they’ve been given.

While not to take away from the NPP’s attraction and effort to gain public trust, it is important to remember that the outpour of support for them at both elections, held months apart, also stems from long-standing frustration and anger against a political culture which was rotten to the core, and eroding Sri Lanka’s governance mechanism over decades. The vote also points to a clear frustration and rejection of long-standing political elitism, nepotism and that of political dynasties. NPP has accomplished in 2024, a power grab which even ‘strongmen’ for political dynasties couldn’t pull off in decades. This Parliamentary Election saw three sons of former presidents contesting from different parties, the votes they have received speaks for volumes. The results show that the citizenry is tired of and have strongly rejected the legacy political dynasties and have instead chosen a political movement that has never held power, and given them a majority.

The NPP also changed political trends on its head, by not allowing its candidates to campaign based on the preferential voting system, a method which has long been criticised for being ineffective and being an enabler of violence and corruption. When evolving to create the NPP coalition, the JVP moved to shed the strong nationalistic policies which has historically been their calling card and shifted towards a more acceptable anti-corruption, anti-establishment and pro-accountability narrative. This progressive move has paid off. A study of how people had voted will show that the NPP’s policy approach has dealt a serious blow to the traditional nationalist politics, both in the Sinhala and Tamil political landscape. Further, by clearly stating that they are not campaigning on ethnic or religious grounds, the NPP has attracted cross community support. It is heartening to see, nationalist political groups and personalities in Sinhala, Tamil and Islamic communities lose ground to the NPP. This also indicates that significant segments of both Sinhala and Tamil nationalist voters have lost faith in their traditional nationalist leaders and have moved towards the NPP. This is a sign that Sri Lankan voters have begun to shed ethno-religious politics, and gives hope for improvement towards a national identity, if the new Government upholds the mandate given to them. The shift also shows that the citizenry is now more politically aware and is ready to get involved in governance and policy-making.

Another visible change is that the NPP approach to politics has transformed the issues which long-plagued women involvement in lawmaking. This election has seen the highest number of women to enter Parliament; an increase from 13 to 21. While this is a positive development, Sri Lanka still has far to go in terms of representation of women in Parliament.

Now that both key elections are done, and the NPP has seized power in an historic manner, what remains is for the new Government to get down to work. 

Sri Lankans will not have to wait long to find out if we have made the right call, or not, especially given the state of the economy. However, it is only fair that the new regime is given the time and space it requires to get things done. Sri Lanka’s vulnerability to geopolitical manipulation stemming out of its economic fragility is a minefield the young, relatively inexperienced leadership will have to navigate with utmost caution. As such, there is little or no room for error in today’s world. The new Government must move quickly to get its act together, deliver on its promise, while keeping the economic issues in balance. It must also remember that the very same people, especially the youth, who through tireless effort and social media mobilisation, aided their rise, will be watching them closely and will move to reprimand them quickly if they make blunders.