Bengaluru: After Malawi and Singapore, India’s southern neighbour Sri Lanka is going to hold elections amid a global pandemic. This election to choose the new Parliament is historic for many reasons. First time in independent Sri Lanka’s history, two major national parties — United National Party (UNP) and Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) — which ruled the Indian Ocean island nation by turn since 1948, are not in the fray as formidable forces. They are playing a second fiddle to their breakaway factions, SJB and SLPP, respectively.
For the first time in Sri Lanka’s history a former President Maithripala Sirisena is contesting in the Parliament election to be an ordinary MP. Even though incumbent Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa was also a two-time President, unlike Sirisena, in this election he is leading his party SLPP to retain his premiership. The UNP leader and three-time former Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, is once again seeking a re-election to Parliament from the national capital Colombo.
Sri Lanka has a 225 member Parliament. Of them 196 MPs are elected directly by the voters and the remaining 29 seats are nominated under the national list based on the percentage of votes each party was polled.
The main fight is between Mahinda Rajapaksa led Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna or SLPP (a breakaway faction of Bandaranaike family’s SLFP) and Sajith Premadasa led Samagi Jana Balawegaya or SJB (a breakaway faction of countries oldest party UNP).
Earlier the Parliament election was scheduled for April 25. The Corona pandemic and the lockdown forced the National Election Commission (NEC) to postpone the elections to August 5.
Rajapaksa, the Island nation’s most charismatic and powerful leader, is banking on his personal popularity to become the PM for a record fourth time. His younger brother and the President of Sri Lanka Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s growing popularity is also helping him. He is moving earth and heaven to secure a two-third majority in the Parliament, which enables his government to amend the Constitution which was amended by his predecessor Ranil Wickremesinghe during 2015 and 2019. His SLPP has formed an alliance with now almost dead SLFP, upcountry tea estate workers party of CWC (Ceylon Workers Congress) and a few Tamil parties.
The SJB is contesting alone against its own UNP. The Tamil parties in the north and east are divided into almost a dozen smaller outfits and contesting under the umbrella of alliances.
Former leader of the opposition in the Parliament octogenarian R Sampathan-led TNA with three parties is taking on a five-party alliance led by former CM of Northern Province and a retired judge of Sri Lanka SC CV Wigneswaran. Former Tamil militant leader Douglas Devananda of the EPDP has tied up with the SLPP.
The upcountry Tea estate Tamil labourers party CWC is led by 25 year old Jeevan Thondaman after the untimely death of his father and a minister Armugam Thondaman. The CWC is in alliance with the SLPP.
The Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna or JVP which is strong in some parts of the southern parts is also in the fray. The Muslim parties are also in the race.
Former Cabinet minister and 1996 World Cup winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga is contesting on the UNP ticket from Gampaha. His brother and Cabinet minister Prasanna Ranatunga is also contesting from the same seat on the ruling SLPP ticket.
Namal Rajapaksa, the 34-year-old son of Prime Minister, is contesting from family pocket borough of Hambantota in the deep South. His father is contesting from Kurunegala near Colombo. Sajith Premadasa, who lost the 2019 Presidential election to Gotabaya, has shifted from Hambantota to Colombo, once a fiefdom his father, the President Ranasinghe Premadasa, who was assassinated by a suicide bomber of LTTE in 1993.
After the Easter Bombing attacks of 2019, the Islamist radicalisation has also become an issue in this election. Muslims have a sizable vote in Colombo and North-Eastern Province.
China, which is the largest foreign investor in Sri Lanka, is also one of the major issues in this election. The opposition is levelling serious charges of surrendering national sovereignty for money against the ruling party. According to experts, China is closely watching the election outcome as it has invested heavily in Sri Lanka to checkmate regional superpower India and the island nation’s oldest donor Japan.
The Indian High Commission in Colombo is also keeping a close watch on the election outcome as it has a huge strategic and cultural interest in Sri Lanka. The USA and other Western countries are worried about the growing influence of China in Indian Ocean and are monitoring the polls keenly. They fear that China is expecting a diplomatic windfall in this election.
Sri Lanka has 22 million population of which about 16.5 million are registered voters. Some election analysts claim that about 28 lakh votes are floating in this election and they play a decisive role in deciding the election results.
The COVID-19 lockdown and the severe restrictions on people assembling at public places have dampened the campaigning.
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