President’s party wins in Sri Lanka parliamentary poll

When Anura Kumara Dissanayake won the presidential election in September, he belonged to the political margins leading a Marxist party. His party had just five seats in the parliament. He won quite decisively, polling 42 per cent of the votes.

He could not have governed with the opposition, Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna party of the Rajapaksas – Mahinda, Gotabaya, Basil – who ruled the island-nation for over a decade. When he dissolved the parliament and called for elections, his Marxist-leaning coalition aptly called National People’s Power (NPP) has won an overhwleming majority of 159 seats in the 225-member national legislature, cornering 62 per cent or nearly 7 million votes.

If there was a doubt that Dissanayake’s win in September was a flash in the pan, the Friday results show that the people of Sri Lanka have placed their trust in the untested Dissanayake and his party. It is also a clear rejection of the dynastic politics that dominated Sri Lanka for six decades and more.

It is an indication that the democracy in the country has broken from its past, and it has charted a new path. The people have been particularly angry with the last years of Rajapaksa government. They came out onto the streets and stormed the presidential place, forcing then president Gotabaya Rajapaksa to leave office and country. This scene of people’s revolt against an unpopular government has been re-enacted in Bangladesh against former prime minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed and her Awami League.

Now that Dissanyake and the NPP have won a resounding popular mandate, they face the burden of immense responsibility of meeting the people’s expectations, of overcoming the economic challenges facing the country.

Sri Lanka has been in economic distress for many years now. It has been forced to turn to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout package. The country was on the verge of economic collapse. India has supported the Sri Lankan case at the IMF.

When Dissanayake won the presidential election, there were doubts whether he would honour the commitments made by the previous government to the IMF. He has said he would honour the commitments and agreements. It is the practice of Western experts to raise the red scare of communists challenging the capitalist world when a left-leaning leader wins in a democratically-held election. With a clear majority in parliament, it will be possible for President Dissanayake to go through the tough process of getting the IMF relief package.

The greater challenge of course for Dissanayake and NPP is to restore economic normalcy in Sri Lanka. This is not going to be an easy task. True to his popular and populist leanings, Dissanayake would have to offer economic relief to the poor people and incentives to the middle class and to the upper crust of investors to revive the economy.

Rayanal Wickremeratne, co-head of research at Softlogic Stockbrokers in Colombo said, “The country has given a clear mandate politically. The key question would be if it is at the cost of economic policy.” Bhavani Fonseka of the Colombo think-tank Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) said, “The president has a huge mandate now to carry through the reforms but also huge expectations from the people.”

Dissanayake has to walk the tightrope between people’s demands and the imperatives of the economy. This will indeed test the political dexterity of Dissanayake. His heart is indeed in the right place, that is with the poor people. His leftist credentials assure that. At the same he has shown himself to be a flexible leftist.

He is no hidebound ideologue of leftist economics. So, he will see the need and advantages of a market economy while addressing the crying needs of the poor in the country.