The voter’s dilemma

President Ranil Wickremesinghe voiced a familiar sentiment yesterday calling for unity among all political parties to fulfil the “collective aspirations of our nation.” “Although we may compete in elections separately, let us collaborate in nation-building endeavours,” the President said in his speech at the ceremonial opening of Parliament last morning.

He cited the decision of the majority of the members of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) as an example of how those with different political ideologies can work together in the interest of the nation’s welfare. “If the SLPP can unite for the greater good, why can’t the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) follow suit? During the period of ‘Good Governance’, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) cooperated closely with us. So, why can’t the JVP join forces for the betterment of our nation?” he queried. He also reached out to Tamil and Muslim political parties to join the Government’s endeavours.

Political leaders, when they are in Government, like to extend the olive branch to opposition parties to show their magnanimity. The current President’s use of the much-hackneyed words will not amount for much under normal circumstances but given that the country is in an election year, such words could be to entice those in the opposition benches to join him in the coming months.

When one looks at the current composition of Parliament as well as the leading political parties, the interchanging of members between them is almost “incestuous.” Almost all of the members in the SJB were part of the United National Party (UNP) but broke ranks to join Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa when he formed the SJB. The current president served as Prime Minister under Maithripala Sirisena during the Yahapalanaya era from 2015-2019 with the JVP unofficial partners in that Government. The breakaway groups from the SLPP including the Wimal Weerawansa/Vasudeva Nanayakkara group and the Nimal Lanza led new alliance were all once part of the Government led by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Many of them also served under Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

The once much touted slogan of the JVP was “unuth ekai, munuth ekai” (roughly both are two sides of the same coin in reference to the two main parties that have successive ruled the country since independence) but a close look at the conduct of the JVP in the past two and half decades shows that their slogans needs to undergo some change to add ‘apith ekai” (we are also the same) given its political flirtations, first with President Chandrika Kumaratunga in 2021 followed by alliances with Mahinda Rajapaksa and later the Yahapalanaya Government.

All Muslim parties too have been part of supersessive governments along with estate sector political parties. Tamil parties representing the north and east have largely stayed away from taking on government roles, except in the case of EPDP leader Douglas Devenanda and a few others.

Herein lies the voter’s dilemma. Everyone wants a system change and clean governance. They want a clean break from the old guard and fresh faces in their place. But their choices are limited. The three leading candidates for the Presidential election are the current President, SJB leader Premadasa and JVP/NPP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake. It is not clear who will make the cut to be president given none of the three have a clear lead but the election of either of them will see little change.

Any president needs a parliament to work with and hence getting the support of 133 MPs is crucial. A majority of MPs serving in the current parliament will seek re-election and many will most likely get re-elected. From what we have seen so far, new entrants to parliament are more of the same and hence the hope for any radical change in the near future is unrealistic. For the public, it will once again be Hobson’s choice.