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By Sandun Jayawardana  

The national significance of the 2025 local government elections results was the dominant topic in Parliament this week, with government and opposition MPs offering up vastly different interpretations of what the results mean.

The ruling National People’s Power (NPP) was keen to hammer home the point that it had won the largest number of local government bodies at Tuesday’s elections. Minister of Plantation and Community Infrastructure Samantha Vidyarathna pointed out on Thursday that the NPP had the highest number of members elected in 267 out of the 339 local government bodies to which polls were held. The victory was larger than the 226 local government bodies which the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) famously won in 2018, he added. Of the 267 local councils which the NPP has won, it has a clear majority in 120, while the number of NPP members elected in 32 councils is the same as members elected by other parties. The NPP is also the largest party in 115 other councils, he noted.  

Minister Vidyarathna insisted opposition parties had nothing to crow about regarding the elections results. While the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) won about 30 local councils at the last local government polls in 2018, it had only managed to win a majority in 14 this time. “We have further strengthened our political stability in these elections. This level of political stability will help us to further strengthen the country’s economic stability and increase our economic growth,” Mr. Vidyarathna claimed.

Even after leaving out the members elected by independent groups, opposition political parties altogether have 4150 members in the local councils based on results at Tuesday’s election, SJB Colombo District MP S. M. Marikkar told the House. The NPP by contrast, only has 3927 members, he pointed out. He claimed that the NPP had lost 2.3 million votes over six months compared to its results at last year’s parliamentary elections. “There’s no point in blaming us. You have reaped the results of lying to the people over these past months. The elections are now over. At least stop with the lies now.”

Mr. Marikkar also said that the government was trying to make “deals” to ensure it can establish NPP administrations in local councils where it lacks sufficient numbers to form administrations on its own. He alleged millions were being offered to opposition members at the Colombo Municipal Council to switch sides, and questioned how the NPP could now court support from groups that it had labeled as “thieves” before the election.

The SLPP had seen a significant increase in its voter base at the local government election compared to November’s parliamentary elections. SLPP Hambantota District MP Namal Rajapaksa opined there were a number of reasons for the decline in votes cast for the NPP and an increase in votes obtained by the SLPP. “You gave unlimited hopes to the people and uttered unlimited lies in doing so,” he told the government. In contrast, the SLPP was honest about what could and couldn’t be done, he stressed.

The NPP has thoroughly analysed the local government elections results and knows that the results carry a “message” to the government, Justice Minister Harshana Nanayakkara said. “However, the opposition has been using data from the election not to prove a point. They are using data as a drunk would use a power pole; to lean on.”

The SJB has won in just 14 out of 339 local bodies and even in those councils, they are not able to form administrations on their own, the Justice Minister observed. “We are prepared to accept constructive criticism and move forward rectifying our mistakes, but we need to rethink whether we should accept advice from a lost, bankrupt and corrupt opposition,” he emphasised. Minister Nanayakkara also said the opposition was wrong to compare results of national level polls such as presidential and parliamentary elections to the local government election. “You must compare an apple to an apple. You can’t compare apples and pears, although both are fruits,” the minister stated.

He said despite the NPP’s victory, voters have given a message to the government that it is “going too slow” and that it needs to move quickly to implement the changes it promised. “We have understood this.”

The Sarvajana Balaya (SB) had won almost 4 per cent of the total votes at the elections and it was something the party can be humbly proud of, party leader and MP Dilith Jayaweera said. He claimed that 12 million out of the country’s 17 million eligible voters did not approve of the NPP, which accounts for about 70 per cent of voters. “I believe you will understand this dangerous situation and manage the situation correctly,” he told the government. He added whichever way the government attempts to twist the statistics to suit its narrative, the fact remains that nearly 1/3 of the NPP’s voters at the last parliamentary election had chosen to vote against the party at the local government election.

The government had the presidency and a 2/3 majority in Parliament, yet it only secured 43.26 per cent of the total vote at the local government polls, pointed out SJB Kurunegala District MP Dayasiri Jayasekara. “This shows that the public has lost trust in the government. You need to accept this fact and that the results reflect a response from the public to the arrogance displayed by the government,” he insisted.

When talking “real politics,” the truth remains that the SJB had 2433 members and control of 34 local councils after the 2018 local government elections, but today, the number has reduced to about 1700 members and just 14 local councils after the 2025 election, Leader of the House, Minister Bimal Rathnayake countered. The SLPP meanwhile, should measure their results based on the 3436 members and control of 231 councils they had after the 2018 election, he added. “Today, they don’t have control of a single council and just 742 members.”

The NPP in contrast, has won the largest number of local councils in the history of local government elections held in the country, the minister added. “We did clean politics and as a result, have some 4000 members in local councils today,” he remarked. He also pushed back against claims the party had suffered a setback in the north when compared to the parliamentary election. The NPP was the largest party in Mannar and Vavuniya while its vote base has also increased in Mullaitvu and Mannar, he stressed. The NPP never had a single member in local councils in the Jaffna district until these elections. Today, it has 81 members in the Jaffna administrative district and 150 members in the Northern Province, Mr. Rathnayake noted. He pointed out that the NPP had 10 members in the Jaffna Municipal Council while the SJB and United National Party (UNP) had just one member each.

Mr. Rathnayake insisted that the NPP will form administrations in all 267 local councils where it has a majority of members and begin work on developing the country. He urged the opposition not to “feed politics into the numbers” and accept the people’s mandate.