Exactly a month from today, Sri Lankans will once again be heading to the polling booths to complete ‘project change’ that they started on 21 September with the election of Sri Lanka’s first Left-leaning Executive President. Forced by dire economic circumstances leading to bankruptcy, the latest phase of ‘project change,’ which the people of this country earnestly undertook back in April 2022 by gathering opposite the Presidential Secretariat at Galle Face, finally manifested in tangible terms through the election of Anura Kumara Dissanayake at the Presidential Poll last month.
But that process is yet far from over, with a new Parliament due to be elected on 14 November. As the saying goes, there can be many a slip between cup and lip given that one month is a long time in sunny Sri Lanka where memory spans are notoriously short and demands keep growing. For those willing to lend an ear to the people, the game is yet wide open.
Given the handicap of falling well short of a majority at the last poll, Dissanayake will have to go the extra mile in proving his bona fides and that he means business in order to convince voters to board the National People’s Power (NPP) train. Although 42% of the vote was good enough to get him the presidency, it will not suffice to get his party a working majority in Parliament. For that to happen, the NPP must look at increasing its electoral share to over 51%. The only way that can happen is for Dissanayake and his NPP to deliver on the primary promise of cleaning up the government and catching at least some rogues prior to 14 November.
The NPP’s main contender, Sajith Premadasa’s Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), must surely be rueing its chances at the last Presidential Poll, having been over-confident to the end, consequently taking things for granted and paying the price for it. Over the course of the past three weeks, the SJB must surely have done some soul-searching and re-calibrated its approach if it is to pose a threat to Dissanayake’s high-riding NPP. One significant factor that is to its advantage almost by default is the voters’ last negative experience of granting a single party a two-thirds majority. Voters will likely look to make amends for that indiscretion on their part the last time around and the party most likely to benefit from that shift is the SJB in particular and the other new kids on the block in general.
When nominations for the Parliamentary Polls closed at noon last Friday (11), a total of 690 nominations had been accepted by the Election Commission while 74 had been rejected. Out of the 225-seat House, 196 members will be directly elected by the people while the remaining 29 seats will be filled through National List nominations based on the total number of votes polled by each party as per the Proportional Representation electoral system.
The list of nominees this time around makes interesting reading and signals a watershed moment in local politics, where the old guard has been compelled to make way for the new. History will not appreciate the fact that the old guard was compelled to make the move not through choice but through compulsion to do so given the prevailing circumstances. It has been noted that around three dozen political heavyweights have either completely quit politics or decided to refrain from contesting this time around, in response to public sentiment.
The coming General Elections also marks the end of the road for the political heavyweight duo of Mahinda Rajapaksa and Ranil Wickremesinghe. Both of them first entered Parliament some five decades ago and have either individually or collectively presided over the local political arena for the greater part of that period. While marking the end of an era, the circumstances in which the duo have been forced to call it quits is less than desirable and history is likely to be unkind in recording their exit.
Though forced out of parliamentary contention, the duo continues to hold on to the leadership of their respective parties, despite calls to step down. The fact that both parties are in the doldrums with little hope of making an impact at the upcoming polls does not help their cause either. History is usually unkind to those who choose to overstay their welcome and it will be no different in the case of these two, unfortunate as it may be. Their legacy of presiding over the destruction of their respective parties – from being the most formidable at some point or the other to the weakest at present – will unfortunately be what posterity records.
No doubt the inelegant circumstances that demand their exit will haunt them to the end and may well be unworthy of the long innings at the forefront and contributions made, but overstaying one’s welcome has its consequences and is something for the new generation taking over the reins to keep in mind. After nearly 100 years of collective political engagement between the two, the duo leaves behind not only an unforgiving legacy of a bankrupt nation that is now the responsibility of others to rescue but also two parties in complete disarray.
The once all-powerful Rajapaksas’ and Wickremesinghe’s inglorious exit is a lesson for those taking over that no one is indispensable and to be mindful of the legacy they leave behind, for it takes only one drop of dung to spoil the entire pot of milk. The new set of political leaders that the next Parliament will likely spawn will do well to keep in mind that there is a time to come and a time to go. A trait of a good leader is to know when to go. The current state of Wickremesinghe’s United National Party (UNP) and Rajapaksa’s Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) is testament to that principle.
In fact, it is the obstinacy of the old guard that has compelled the people to look beyond the traditional parties and seek alternate options. The rise of Anura Kumara Dissanayake and the NPP is testament to that. The golden rule is to go when the going is good and people will respect you for it. Ask the Obamas. One can only contemplate what the UNP and SLPP could have been in today’s context had they chosen to be proactive to the demands of the times.
Be that as it may, Sri Lanka’s demand for change has a history of almost a decade but those who have been promising change since 2015 have habitually let down the people and they are now paying dearly for having taken the people for granted. Despite this relatively long history, it is somewhat tragic that most political parties continue to read the people wrong – the exception being the NPP. The outcome is clear from the results of the last election.
This epic misreading of the people’s aspirations left them with no option but to turn to Dissanayake and his NPP. With a month to go for what will surely turn out to be a watershed General Election, it is not too late yet for parties to effect course correction and align themselves with the people’s primary aspiration for honest governance.
Given the past bitter experience of one party being handed an oversized mandate, the way forward is for a balanced Parliament that will check government excess and create the necessary checks and balances that Parliament is supposed to have. The time has come to dump the divide-and-rule playbook of the old guard. Sri Lanka can benefit from a government that has to reach out across the divide for legislative support. That way, every Sri Lankan will have his or her voice heard. It’s time for the people to have their say.