Elections in 2024: Small chance for a new beginning

As Sri Lanka enters 2024 which is due to be an election year, there are so far little signs of any hope for meaningful change. The same ‘very old’ players are vying for political office, offering little enthusiasm for the electorate. Yet, despite rather depressing options available, elections are rare moments for the citizenry to enforce their aspirations on the ruling elite. However, sparse the options maybe, 2024 offers a glimmer of hope to change, for the better, a system that has plunged the country into bankruptcy.

After arbitrarily postponing local government elections, despite court orders to the contrary, the current administration has to face a presidential or even possibly a parliamentary election this year. While the holding of the Presidential election is mandatory in 2024, Parliamentary elections are also possible If the President or the Parliament itself resolves to do so, despite its current term only expiring in August 2025.

Sri Lanka claims to be Asia’s oldest continuous democracy. The two factors that determine this status are the universal franchise that was granted to Sri Lanka in 1931, and the holding of regular, free and fair elections. In the early 20th Century, a small elite used to possess the right to vote and therefore determine the ‘will of the people.’ The two ‘big ideas’ that entered the discourse at that time were universal franchise and self-determination. With the acceptance of universal franchise, the notion of self-determination, by which ‘the right of a people to determine its collective political destiny in a democratic fashion’ was defined through the process of elections. In this perspective of democracy, the holding of free, fair and routine elections became the accepted minimum standard.

Therefore, the electoral process is centric to the very democratic concept since it is the institutional arrangement for the arriving at political decisions in which individuals acquire the power to decide by means of competitive struggle for the people’s vote. It is therefore an abhorrent proposition that the current administration has thus far overtly stifled the franchise of the people and prevented the holding of local government elections.

Thus far only a few individuals have explicitly expressed their candidature for the presidency. These include the incumbent, a media mogul and a businessman. Neither candidate inspires enthusiasm or hope. Neither have thus far articulated a vision for unity and reconciliation, addressing the aspirations of the minority communities, restoration of justice and the rule of law, addressing corruption and meaningful and equitable economic recovery.

Despite these gloomy predicaments elections do offer a chance for meaningful change. In 2014 at the height of the Rajapaksa power a few people led by civil society dared to dream of such a change. They facilitated an opportunity that would probably come only once in a generation. A progressive agenda for good governance and a promise to address the decades old national issue with equality and justice for all. That opportunity was plundered by Maithripala Sirisena and Ranil Wickremesinghe who sacrificed that moment of hope at the altar of ambition, political expediency and incompetence. Despite the betrayal of the 2015 mandate by those entrusted with it, the experience proved that change is possible.

Despite the seemingly desperate odds, the opportunities presented in 2024 shouldn’t be missed for meaningful electoral change.