When former army General, Sarath Fonseka came forward as a candidate at the last Presidential election in 2009, he caught the country by surprise but was then able to mobilise most anti-government factions together to provide a formidable challenge to President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The President was riding the crest of a wave of national pride [...]

The Sunday Times Sri Lanka

Dilemma of a coalition

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When former army General, Sarath Fonseka came forward as a candidate at the last Presidential election in 2009, he caught the country by surprise but was then able to mobilise most anti-government factions together to provide a formidable challenge to President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The President was riding the crest of a wave of national pride and support after successfully defeating the LTTE in what was seen as an ‘unwinnable’ war and called a snap poll to make use of growing faith. On the other hand, Fonseka, army commander and part of the triumvirate which included the President and his brother, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya that claimed success for the effort – also found support and even though he lost, won a sizable number of votes. The common coalition candidate backed by the United National Party (UNP), also claimed vote rigging and other ‘machinations’ of the state robbed him of victory. A few weeks later, Fonseka was charged, convicted and jailed for violating military rules of conduct.

Fonseka, a decorated war hero, lost his public appeal after being released from jail and his party is now nowhere near the support it had earlier. That’s because Sri Lankans are very fickle and prone to forget their past heroes.

Thus when searching for a common candidate for the incoming election, Fonseka’s name didn’t figure at all in the frontrunners for this position. Eventually the opposition sprang a surprise, just like during the 2009 poll, with the candidate, Maithripala Sirisena, coming from government ranks. Sirisena had been seen as a potential Prime Minister in the Rajapaksa-led government.

There has been euphoria, excitement and a roller-coaster ride for the joint opposition ever since Sirisena announced that he is the joint opposition candidate endorsed by the UNP and said more from government ranks would be crossing over as independent MPs. Apart from about three or four that deserted the President, few others have joined opposition ranks as promised but may do so after tomorrow, Monday – the deadline for nominations.

The Colombo bourse has behaved exactly the way one would expect – up and down. It was seen falling but recovered when the budget, expected to be defeated by the opposition, was won by the ruling party.

The common candidate faces many daunting challenges in the run-up to the poll. Foremost among them is being able to convince the electorate, which is searching for an honest and benevolent leader to take this country away from a path of self-destruction, that he has the ability to steer the coalition of forces to stick to the promises they have made, particularly the 100-day programme.

Sri Lanka is not alone in the ‘election by promise’ type of campaigning. Political leaders in most of the developing world promise the sun, the moon and the earth at an election to canvass for votes, and all this is forgotten soon after the poll is over. One promise that stands out in recent times that has not been kept is that by Chandrika Kumaratunga and Rajapaksa to abolish the presidency in their previous tenures. Didn’t happen!
Now Rajapaksa says he will either abolish the presidency or curb its powers. Believable?

Sirisena and Co. are also saying their mandate is to do the same within the 100 day programme. Believable? Somewhat!

This column has said it in the past and says it again with emphasis: What political parties and candidates need is to ‘sign’ a public contract with the people ensuring that they keep to their promise or quit. Through this process the people hold their leaders accountable to their promises and on this basis, votes are cast for the candidate who the electorate believes is more honest, sincere and will abide by the public contract.

How could this be done? It is up to the candidates to come up with a foolproof system that will win the support of the people who then have a right to ask the winning candidate to go home if he or she doesn’t deliver on the promises within six months of an election!

Sri Lanka would become the 5-star democracy, its leaders have often espoused to be, if something like this happens – where power and absolute power lies with the people, at all times, and not only during an election.

Apart from this, the common candidate has many hurdles to overcome before the election is over — like allocation of ministerial portfolios (in case he wins) to all supporting parties; how political parties will retain their own identity, and ensuring that parties in the coalition don’t criticise each other (UNP against SLPF policies and vice versa), etc.

Another bone of contention is the size of the cabinet. Opposition parties have been critical of Rajapaksa’s jumbo-sized cabinet and compared it to the 30-member cabinet in some countries. How Sirisena would limit his cabinet to 30 members (if he wants to practice governance and accountability), amidst demands from supporting parties, will be herculean task.Mass corruption, by a select few in the government, is one of the weapons being used by the Sirisena camp and, either due to arrogance of power, excitement or being utterly stupid, some of Rajapaksa’s ministers are making utterances that reveal the depth of desperation in government ranks.

For, how stupid can it get when ministers like Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Amaraweera says that his colleagues (that applies to himself too) have made some much money that they don’t need to plunder any more the nation’s wealth; that they would be clean in the fresh mandate and that a new, incoming regime will be the ones ‘making money’. Such statements not only help the other side but coming from the ‘horse’s mouth’, proves beyond any reasonable doubt that government politicians and their cronies have been corrupt. The statement appeared in newspapers on Tuesday and there has been no denial, so far.

More such statements, out of desperation, are likely from both camps given the kind of feverish and no-holds-barred kind of campaigning that would take place. For the country’s future, the ideal scenario is a government jointly controlled by the main political parties which provides the ideal checks and balance needed to ensure clean governance.

That happened when the Chandrika Kumaratunga-Ranil Wickremasinghe alliance government in 2002 was welcomed by all peace-loving citizens, hoping for an era of peace and prosperity for the nation. Unfortunately this turned out to be just an experiment due to the shortsightedness of some politicians from both sides.

Are we looking at a similar scenario? Not if the Sirisena-led alliance has a public contract endorsed by the people which clearly explains how its 100-day programme will be executed and if it fails, what would happen. Success lies in being honest and accountable to the people.

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