Columns

Hearing Sri Lanka’s opposition parties in the South jubilantly crowing about a ‘win’ in Thursday’s local government elections, one would think that a magnificent feat had been accomplished on its part in reducing votes cast for the ruling National Peoples’ Party (NPP).

Stinging lessons for the Government and the Opposition

That is far from the case. An appeal was made directly to the people by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to vote sweepingly for his candidates as this was ‘essential’ to fully carry out the party’s popular mandate. A tenuous argument at best, this appeal was resoundingly rejected. But to be clear, this was not so much due to confident leadership by the Opposition but rather increased public disillusionment with the NPP Government’s ‘all talk, no action’ performance.

In other words, it was a negative vote against the Government that turned towards opposition parties for lack of a better alternative, accompanied by the bitter rider that many voters angry with both, stayed away from the polls. The Government as well as the Opposition must be wise enough to learn from these lessons and engage in a badly needed course correction.

For the ruling party coalition, much is undoubtedly at stake. It behoves the President to initiate a critical intra-party review taking into account what he himself had been warning from last year, namely that the seeds of destruction can only be sown from within. That is exactly what is happening, faithfully in line with that portentous prediction. For that and disturbingly so, the President himself is responsible in part.

Insidious election violations

Thinly disguised threats during the campaign to the polls which he shepherded himself, that local councils run by other parties will not have as easy access to state funds as those run by the NPP, did not go down kindly with the Sri Lankan public. The point is that even though the Government boasted of ‘polls without violence’, election violations can occur far more insidiously.

That was evidenced not only by this statement by the President but also in several other respects including election monitors complaining to the Elections Commission regarding the Prime Minister conducting election meetings inside temple premises in the North. This was compounded by reports that when officials of the Elections Commission had attempted to enter the premises, they had been blocked by security officers.

There was hesitancy regarding the robust manner in which the Elections Commission responded to these complaints. This is a worrying development particularly taken in the background of questions being raised on the NPP’s commitment to independent constitutional and statutory oversight bodies on governance. Is that pressure having an impact on the independent manner in which these bodies should function? That is a concern that ought to be meticulously tracked and monitored.

The citizenry does not need to be lectured on the law

Then again, an unpalatable ruckus arose over the Prime Minister’s injunction to the NPP party candidates to indirectly campaign even after commencement of the ‘silent period’ before the polls. Her explanation that she did not ‘intend’ to break election laws and that she is ready, as much as any ‘citizen’ to be punished if the Election Commission deems it fit, only aggravated the matter.

Sri Lankans do not need politicians to be telling them that the law is equal to everyone. Put simply, the problem is not the law; rather it is the way that politicians influence the law in its application. The problem is also that politicians should know not to violate the law in the first instance rather than do so and then pontificate about being ‘ready to be punished.’

In sum, one does not have to go very far to understand how the NPP’s glorified ‘popular appeal’ lapsed in this way, so soon and somewhat significantly. That is notwithstanding the brave front put forward by its party leaders that it did ‘very well.’ As I observed earlier, a significant governance deficit is emerging at several levels. The very commitment of the NPP to democratic rule is probingly questioned by a disenchanted voter base that was once besotted with it.

Overweening arrogance of government ministers

We may disregard the shrill screeching of Rajapaksa-remnants who have made an electoral come-back at the polls but who can scarce preach on good governance. A key factor is the overweening arrogance of prominent Ministers whose bluster in meeting criticism is only matched by their ignorance and failure to perform.

Some of these worthies could take a leaf out of the book of the President in fending off hostile questioning, given his style of using a smile and (perchance a facade of) humility to disarm his interrogator. Then we have the reality of the wheels of government machinery endlessly stuck in motion regarding the NPP’s trumpeted presidential/parliamentary election promises, from reducing the cost of living to repealing the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).

Added to this is the marked lack of transparency in the Government’s style of government, most particularly on memoranda of understanding signed between India and Sri Lanka including on defence, which has given rise to hysterical speculation of the most dangerous kind. At a more mundane level but important nonetheless, we were treated to the ugly sight of NPP election supporters breaking the highways law in returning from the May Day rally this year.

‘We are the best’ boast

President Dissanayake promised that an inquiry will be held and action taken. What has transpired so far? Notably, this slide in the Government’s popularity came about despite lacklustre opposition forces and just a few months after its ‘stunning’ catapulting into national seats of power. This says much about how unstable Sri Lanka’s political trajectory has become and to what extent, the public has become wary of those who profess to rule under slogans of ‘we are the best, everyone else are pariahs.’

Meanwhile a dominant irony emerges as the Government is deftly hoisted on its own moralising petard. The NPP has proclaimed that it will not form coalitions with parties ‘rejected’ by the people. But were they ‘rejected’ really on these polls results? Was the contrary not the case as the vote base of major opposition parties increased? And how does coalitions with ‘independent candidates’ earlier condemned by the NPP itself as ‘proxies of discredited opposition parties,’ escape that stain?

This is a fine example of how merry moralizing in politics can be self-destructive. That said, the re-emergence of the ‘Rajapaksa’ factor testifying to determined campaigning of the ‘Pohottuwa’ at grassroots level is one of the most concerning aspects of the recent polls. We have familiar faces crawling out the woodwork spewing communal rubbish as the North swung the way of the traditional Tamil parties once again.

Discarding a false political narrative

No doubt, this will be highly poisonous for Sri Lanka’s fractured society. Indeed, if the caution by voters reflected in the ward elections had been evidenced at the national level in 2024, it would have been better. The Government would have been forced to be more on its toes in keeping the faith with its election manifesto.

Further, we would not have had endlessly sickening moralising by the NPP on how it brought ‘democracy ‘ to Sri Lanka and enabled the public to ‘criticise’ the ruling party. This is a manifestly false narrative. It is as if no critics existed, no media probed, no analysts wrote robustly on the grievous failings of the State in all of Sri Lanka’s post–independence history. That is assuredly not the case.

Critical self-appraisal is required by the NPP if it is not to suffer the humiliating reversals of political fortunes endured by many similarly self-glorified regimes which have gone before it.