Looking around the streets of Colombo these days, or any other city in the country for that matter, it is hard to tell that an all-important General Election is just one more Sunday away, making this poll somewhat of an aberration from the norm and, indeed, a case study of Sri Lanka’s evolving political scene.
While credit for this unusual phenomenon must accrue to the new leadership, there is more to it than meets the eye. The prevailing calm is unusual in the sense that it was just two-and-a-half years ago that people got on to the streets demanding fresh elections and this is the first opportunity since then for the people to elect their representatives. While voter fatigue can be attributed to the apparent disinterest – unprecedented in a nation where politics is more popular than sport and any election is usually associated with chaotic, ferocious campaigning – there is also an inevitable sense of voter apathy, amply displayed at the recent Elpitiya election, where voter turnout was way below expectations.
Lastly, there is another reason that appears to be directly contributing to this sense of lethargy and voter disinterest; something that is not beyond the control of the regime, but certainly, a byproduct of its performance thus far. And that is the sense of déjà vu that voters are beginning to feel, a sense of having been here and done this before, where those elected swiftly change tune once in office. All the solemn promises – even the ones that were to be implemented within 24 hours of assuming office – have been placed on the back-burner and chances are that they will inevitably be forgotten until the next poll.
To the diehard National People’s Power (NPP) supporters as well as the electorate in general, there seems to be a rapidly widening deficit between what was promised and what is being delivered. Whenever this is pointed out, the stock excuses are that the regime needs time to consolidate its position and/or alternatively, that it requires a comfortable parliamentary majority to deliver on the promises. Reality, however, says otherwise.
While such considerations will come into play in matters such as the abolition of the presidency, a topic that epitomises the expanding trust deficit with this specific promise seemingly being put on ice once again following the election of the new President, there is no such necessity for the majority of the promises made, with the all-powerful executive presidency more than adequate to get the ball rolling on such matters. These include salary revisions, fuel and utility cost reductions, tax relief, and so many other such promises that could be delivered overnight with just Cabinet approval.
The distinction must be made that these were in fact campaign promises of the current leadership which voters bought into, who now feel let down. In place of action, all manner of explanations are being trotted out, even denying such promises being made. Déjà vu, indeed. Unsurprisingly, it appears that things are playing out much the same way they did with almost all of the recent holders of that exalted office, save for some cosmetic changes which nevertheless have been welcome.
Curiously enough, even though there has been quite a song and dance about the curtailment of benefits to elected officials, the benefits of these measures have not translated into a better deal for the people who are still compelled to pay the same amount of taxes for upkeep of the State. For instance, with just three individuals presiding over the state of affairs in a nation long used to having hundreds of politicians from local government to provincial to parliamentary level – all of whom are currently inactive – the cost saving that must surely add up to billions of rupees remains unaccounted for.
Besides, it is now apparent that the NPP overpromised and is now carrying the burden of underdelivery. This unhelpful status quo is unlikely to benefit the party at the upcoming polls. While overpromising in a charged political arena fuelled by the bleak economic circumstances at the time could well have been overlooked by a benevolent support base sympathetic to its lack of experience, what is unlikely to garner such sympathy is the admission that it did so wilfully, in order to mislead voters.
In fact, a leading figure in the party’s presidential campaign, a lady lawyer to boot, recently publicly admitted to having knowingly misled the public on serious corruption-related allegations made against the former political leadership, pertaining to tonnes of fresh bank notes being surreptitiously shipped via air freight to Uganda. Having screamed from rooftops about the matter during the campaign and promised all manner of punitive action against those purportedly responsible, the lady lawyer now claims the entire story was a fib. So now what? Aren’t voters supposed to feel cheated?
In the meantime, the party will be hard put to repair the structural damage caused to its credibility at this early stage as a result of this episode coupled with continued non-action on the anti-corruption front – the single biggest pledge that clinched the presidential deal. Having waved some 400-plus ‘files’ said to contain explosive details of mega corruption, and having proclaimed that those responsible would be instantly brought to book no sooner it secured the presidency as the party had already completed the investigations, the silence on the matter thus far is deafening. The collateral damage of that silence will be known in a matter of weeks.
The NPP must keep in mind the fact that the support it derived at the last Presidential Poll did not necessarily stem from an outpouring of love for the party per se, but that it essentially benefitted from, and capitalised on, the unpopularity of the regime/s past. The Elpitiya election result, a longstanding stronghold of Leftist ideology, adequately proves the point, with both the NPP and the collective Opposition securing 15 seats each in what was anticipated to be a runaway win for the ruling party, fresh after securing the executive presidency.
Therefore, the current pre-election calm and lack of excitement could well be attributed to large-scale voter disillusionment as a result of their experimentation with change not delivering the desired results. The NPP must take cognisance of the fact that the party was the primary beneficiary of the overriding anti-establishment sentiment – the result of the failure of the two main political configurations dominating the political landscape since independence to rein in corruption and wastage, resulting in the country plunging to bankruptcy.
Meanwhile, the seeming inaction on the anti-corruption front has been compounded by another significant U-turn; on doing away with the contentious new Prevention of Terrorism Act. In its latest pronouncement on the matter, the regime appears to have drastically shifted from its pre-Presidential Election stance and is now of the view that the act is in fact a necessity. And topping off the list of letdowns is the continued persistence with the executive presidency, contrary to commitments running back decades.
As campaigning for the next General Election reaches a somewhat muted crescendo consequent to parties having stepped on the pedal and gone all out at the Presidential Poll, emptying party coffers in the process, post-Presidential Election voter disillusionment has not helped the cause either and what should have been the culmination of Sri Lanka’s first-ever people-driven change movement is now seemingly stuck at a crossroads, with electors pondering which way forward. Definite case study material.