General elections and party politics

Political parties are scurrying to find suitable candidates to contest in the 14 November parliamentary elections. The ruling National People’s Power (NPP) is keen to obtain a majority in the new Parliament even though their Presidential nominee and now President Anura Kumara Dissanayake obtained around 43% of the total votes in last month’s election. 

If the NPP retains that vote base, they would finish with around 105 seats, slightly short of the 113 simple majority in the House. However, it’s likely that they will exceed this number and get around 125 to 130 seats in the next Parliament.

SJB leader Sajith Premadasa however has other ideas and already said he will be his party’s prime ministerial candidate and is fighting to obtain a majority in the House.

Attempts to bring about an agreement between the SJB and the UNP-SLPP (breakaway group) before nominations for the general elections are finalised failed and hence Premadasa will be contesting with the SJB’s constituent partners including several parties that represent minorities.

The time for any such agreement was months ago and should have been done prior to the Presidential election. If that had been achieved, it is most likely that the SJB-UNP group would have had one of their own as president today but that is water under the bridge and what could’ve been achieved was lost to them.

The UNP-SLPP group have announced they will contest from the gas cylinder symbol under which the former president Ranil Wickremesinghe contested last month’s election while the SLPP (Namal Rajapaksa group) and the Mawbima Janatha Party (MJP) of businessman Dilith Jayaweera too have been strengthening his side with several former MPs joining the group. In the north and east, the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) will be fighting to retain its role as the dominant force in these areas while several smaller parties too will vie for the seats there.

Once the dust settles on the general election, there is the strong possibility that many of the smaller parties may also join the new Government.

The NPP is riding high on its newly achieved electoral victory and as the adage goes new brooms do sweep well. (The late Srimani Athulathmudali who was appointed the Minister of Transport in 1994 gave new meaning to the saying when she swept the floor of the Fort railway station to show how serious she was about “system change”). The President and his two-member “super” cabinet have not done anything that dramatic but have been showcasing luxury vehicles used by politicians and officials of the previous Government, making statements on opening investigations into past cases of corruption cases, etc. 

Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya who is also Education Minister and also minister in charge of numerous other subjects has made some headlines making statements such as asking schools not to invite politicians to school events. What is the rationale behind not inviting politicians to school events is not clear. It’s possible in the future her old school might want her as Chief Guest at their prize giving but she’ll have to say no. The President will be unable to attend school events at his alma mater Tambutthegama Maha Vidyalaya if such illogical decisions get implemented. Politicians aren’t aliens but are elected by the public and hence inviting them for an event in a school is not a dirty deed as the new Prime Minister seems to think.

Such distractions aside a lot on how the NPP fares in the 14 November general election will depend on what the President and his team does in the next six weeks. Here is hoping that besides populist remarks that are applauded widely and given wide publicity, as is the case when any new government takes office, there will be a more serious attempt at real change.