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Sri Lanka’s new PM’s left-leaning alliance enjoys a thumping win in the country’s just-concluded snap poll to the parliament.
According to the official tally, the National People’s Power (NPP) alliance of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake secured the required two-thirds majority in the 225-member legislature with 159 seats.
Dissanayake, who was elected in September, required a simple majority to be able to tackle corruption and bring stability after the worst economic crisis in the island’s history.
One of the most common reasons that could be correlated with the fates of many voters was the problem of the high price levels.
Political pundits had predicted that the NPP was going to perform well in the elections but the question on everybody’s lips was: By how much would the NPP win so as to give the two third majority it desired in order to achieve its program reforms.
In the last assembly Dissanayake’s Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) party, which now leads the NPP had only three places.
The 55-year-old, who earlier told reporters that he believed this was “a crucial election that will mark a turning point in Sri Lanka”.
Sajith Premadasa the person Dissanayake defeated in the presidential elections was leading the opposition alliance.
After assuming the presidency Dissanayake also demanded early elections in order to go for a new mandate in his administration to put forward his policies. Mr. Babiak told PATV that there was “no point continuing with a parliament that is not in line with what the people want”.
Some 64% of ex-MPs did not contest the latest election, among them many from the defeated erstwhile ruling family of Rajapakse.
Of the total number of 225 that constitutes the number of seats of the parliament, 196 of them were the directly elected parliament members. The rest are appointed from parties using the proportional system whereby they get appointments based on the proportion of the percentage of the votes they secure.
Who is Sri Lanka’s new president Anura Kumara Dissanayake?
Why is Sri Lanka in crisis?
Sri Lanka’s economy suffered from a record increase in inflation, and food and fuel scarcities in 2022 which culminated in a political upheaval and the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. His successor Ranil Wickremesinghe was able to secure a $3bn bailout from the IMF but the average Sri Lankan still lives in economic distress.
Even now, we find ourselves grappling with the issues that were present earlier on. “We still don’t have financial help even to meet our basic needs,” said 26-year-old Manjula Devi, a garment factory worker in the Katunayake Free Trade Zone in Colombo.
While going through the poverty rate percentage in Sri Lanka it reveals that the poverty head count has increased up to 25.9% in the four last years. For 2024, the World Bank gives a forecasted growth of only 2.2%.
This in combination with voter dissatisfaction with existing political personalities benefited the leader of the left-leaning Dissanayake during the Sept elections. He supported the policy of high state interference in the economy with low taxes and advocated leftist economic measures for his party.
Dissanayake was to do so by becoming the first Sri Lankan president ever to be elected by less than 50 percent of the votes cast. According to the people who watch the game closely they believe that many of his alliances will perform much better this time round.
To an extent, how his alliance performs will depend on the state of the opposition – multi-leveled with most of the leaders and parties splitting into either a number of small groups or contesting independently.
The JVP-led coalition however was criticized as running a more alive campaign than the opposition.
The coalition will now be under a lot of pressure in order to deliver and deliver what they promised during the campaigns. Dissanayake has vowed to pay back the country’s debt, change the polity of the country, and prosecute those involved in corruption in the previous governments.
The overall picture of Sri Lanka’s economy remains rather worrisome – and the major thought process is still centered around the relevant needful. What will happen to the country thereafter is what will define a real charge when the new government assumes power.