Can Sri Lanka’s Dissanayake Leverage His Presidential Win In Parliamentary Election? – News18
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President Aruna Kumara Dissanayake, who was elected as President in September, is seeking a majority so that most of the policies of his Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna can get parliamentary approval
Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) heads the National People’s Power coalition, which has only three MPs (out of the total 225) in Parliament. (AP file photo)
Nearly 90,000 candidates are vying to get elected in Sri Lankan parliament in the November 14 election, with veterans such as former Presidents Ranil Wickremesinghe, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, and Mahinda Rajapaksa opting out of the contest.
President Aruna Kumara Dissanayake, who was elected as President in September, is seeking a majority so that most of the policies of his Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) can get parliamentary approval. JVP heads the National People’s Power (NPP) coalition, which has only three MPs (out of the total 225) in Parliament.
A day after he assumed office on September 23, President Dissanayake had dissolved Parliament because he wanted a majority in a new Parliament to endorse and approve his agenda. The Sri Lankan Constitution empowers him to dissolve Parliament.
What’s At Stake For Dissanayake?
Dissanayake, an outsider to dynastic politics that has dominated Sri Lanka for decades, swept to power promising change as the country emerges from a crushing financial crisis. Millions of voters put faith in his pledge to fight corruption and to bolster a fragile economic recovery.
His NPP and JVP managed to achieve more than 6 million votes in the 2024 Presidential election from a mere 4,50,000 votes in the last election. But this time, he is not in the race, and the country is not a single electorate. It depends how the President has been able to convince the voters who don’t know most of the new candidates.
At a public meeting in Gampaha district near Colombo, Dissanayake dwelled on the subjects of governance, transparency and decision-making. “Parliament needs more NPP members to establish a strong government which will eliminate bribery and corruption,” he said, as quoted by the Frontline.
He also pushed his development plank in Sinhala-dominated south and central regions of the country to shore up his vote base, and in the north and the east of the island nation, inhabited largely by Tamils and Muslims respectively.
He also highlighted the issue of Indian fishermen, and assured the Sri Lankans that he would resolve the matter. But his speeches and campaign hardly have mentioned the political rights and aspirations of Tamils.
How Much Charged Up Is The Opposition?
Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa’s party, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), is expected to be NPP’s main challenger alongside the New Democratic Front — a breakaway group from the party of the Rajapaksa family and backed by former president Ranil Wickremesinghe.
The struggle for SJB and others, including the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), and the United National Party (UNP), is to stay relevant, and convince voters to give them another chance and move on from their corrupt past.
Wickremesinghe, who heads the UNP, is backing candidates from a breakaway faction of the UNP, named New Democratic Front (NDF). He said he had rescued the country from bankruptcy and “managed it well with IMF” (International Monetary Fund), as quoted by The Frontline.
For the first time in 88 years, a member of the Rajapaksa family is not contesting an election although Namal Rajapaksa, son of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, is leading the campaign for their Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna party.
Rajapaksas, who hail from Hambantota and whose cohort of brothers gave Sri Lanka two former presidents, saw their political fortunes wane after the financial crisis sparked a massive public uprising that ousted Gotabaya Rajapaksa in 2022.
How Will Sri Lankans Vote?
There 17.1 million eligible Sri Lankan voters who will vote to elect lawmakers to the 225-member Parliament for a five-year term. About 1 million of them are first-time voters.
Voters directly elect 196 members to Parliament from 22 constituencies under a proportional representation system. The remaining 29 seats will be allocated according to the island-wide proportional vote obtained by each party. A voter can cast up to three preferential votes for candidates contesting from their party of choice.
Vote Count: Amidst tight security, votes will be counted by government employees after polling ends, supervised by Election Commission officials, election monitors and representatives of candidates. Voting begins at 7 am local time (0130 GMT) and ends at 4 pm (1030 GMT), with counting scheduled to start shortly after.
Results: The Election Commission will formally announce the winning party, likely on November 15. A cabinet is expected to be formed immediately afterwards and the new parliament will convene on November 21 to elect a speaker. President Dissanayake will also present a throne speech outlining his key policy priorities to the new parliament on the same day.
About Sri Lanka’s Economic Crisis
The election comes at a decisive time for Sri Lankans, as the island nation emerges from its worst economic crisis, having declared bankruptcy after defaulting on its external debt in 2022.
The country is now in the middle of a bailout programme with the IMF and debt restructuring with international creditors nearly complete.
Dissanayake has said that he planned to propose significant changes to the targets set in the IMF deal, which his predecessor Wickremesinghe signed. But he has since changed his stance and said Sri Lanka will go along with the agreement and he will not seek to change it, as mentioned in a Reuters report.
The Sri Lankan government will present its first budget in February next year. It expects the budget to include proposals to reduce taxes and increase salaries for government servants, Dissanayake said.
Sri Lanka’s crisis was largely the result of economic mismanagement combined with fallout from the pandemic, which along with 2019 terrorist attacks devastated its important tourism industry. The coronavirus crisis also disrupted the flow of remittances from Sri Lankans working abroad.
The government also slashed taxes in 2019, foreign exchange reserves plummeted, leaving Sri Lanka unable to pay for imports or defend its currency, the rupee.
Sri Lanka’s economic upheaval led to a political crisis that forced then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign in 2022. Parliament then elected Wickremesinghe to replace him.
Wickremesinghe lost the election as public dissatisfaction grew over the government’s effort to increase revenue by raising electricity bills and imposing heavy new income taxes on professionals and businesses, as part of the government’s efforts to meet the IMF conditions.
Dissanayake’s National Peoples’ Power party has gained popularity since his election victory, while the opposition parties are divided.
(with inputs from Reuters)
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