Less than three months after the installation of a new executive president, Sri Lankans are voting on Thursday to elect 196 members to the next parliament.
The new parliament will be significant as it completes a power transition from traditional and elite political parties to the non-elite, with the high possibility of the National Peoples’ Power (NPP) securing a comfortable majority. It is politically significant as the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) comes full circle, poised to set up the next government nearly 60 years after the party was birthed.
Founded in 1965 by Rohana Wijeweera, the leftist JVP, the NPP’s main constituent party, is not a new political outfit. The former revolutionary movement sought to create a socialist state through revolutionary means and was responsible for two armed uprisings, in 1971 and in 1987-1989, against the Sri Lankan government.
Forming a part of the JVP’s violent history is the bombing of the Sri Lanka parliament on August 18, 1987, a period of political turmoil. By then, the JVP had launched its second armed rebellion, condemning Indian interference and aggression, opposing the ruling United National Party government and Tamil separatism in the island’s North.
It was a tumultuous time. The Indo-Lanka Peace Accord was signed on July 29, 1987. During islandwide protests, over 100 people were killed and 700 injured, including Buddhist monks. As protests continued, a ruling party MP from the deep south, Jinadasa Weerasinghe, was killed on August 1. As public opposition mounted, the government declared curfew, and resorted to armed suppression.
As the government’s popularity plummeted, with serious criticism on its inability to contain India from pushing Sri Lanka to enter an agreement, the spontaneity of protests proved advantageous to the JVP and its armed wing, the Patriotic People’s Movement, mounting further pressure.
Once the controversial accord was signed, parliament was suspended until August 18. The house resumed under a tight blanket of security, and a JVP operative hurled two grenades into a parliamentary committee room that had a convening of over 100 legislators.
One rolled off the table occupied by the then President JR Jayewardene and Prime Minister Ranasinghe Premadasa and exploded. Parliamentarian Keerthi Abeywickrema and a staff member, Norbert Senadeera, were killed, while 16 others, including National Security Minister Lalith Athulathmudali, Minister ELB Hurulle, Ranasinghe Premadasa, Montague Jayawickrama and Gamini Jayasuriya were injured.
The JVP is now ready to form the majority and finally oversee the island’s legislative process 37 years later. Many political developments have contributed to the island’s massive shift in politics, with the 2022 economic collapse and the protest movement playing a true catalyst.
The September vote for President Anura Kumara Dissanayake was a strong expression of public trust and a call to end legacy politics. The results were a manifestation of Sri Lanka’s demand for a radical political transition. On November 14, the voters are most likely to complete this process by ensuring a comfortable majority for a JVP/NPP government.
Following the September victory, the public has remained carefully observant. The cabinet of three have been striving to move things forward despite challenging circumstances. There is an expectation that the new dispensation would look for alternate solutions to the unprecedented monetary crisis while maintaining the status quo. An equally important expectation is to have the island’s governance crisis addressed as a top priority.
From the people’s perspective, there have been some small victories. The government has signalled that more economic burdens are not in the offing and there would be criminal justice for several unresolved issues. A handful of emblematic cases are to be pursued as priority concerns, including the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings.
There is general appreciation for managing a massive political transition in September without political violence and the new political tone in the country devoid of frenzied and expensive electioneering.
But the real political change has come about differently—with the old guard becoming system rejects even without open public protests. It has taken decades for the country’s voters to muster the courage, and it has taken a massive financial and governance crisis to drive it home—that the old order needs to give way to the new. To finally reject the heady mix of money and violence that had come to symbolise Sri Lankan politics.
The people’s victory lies in the unspoken decision of nearly 50 percent of the former parliamentarians to not run for office. It is also a tacit acceptance of the absence of public support for them—both as individuals and their brand of politics. While some of it may be strategic and temporary, the change remains both refreshing and inspiring.
In this huge expulsion exercise, Sri Lanka finds family members of the island’s most powerful political family (until recently), the Rajapaksas, not running for office. It could be their political acumen to read the people’s pulse, but more so, it is a silent acknowledgement of a failed political brand of race, religion, excessive use and concentration of power, nepotism, and grand corruption.
The September elections have brought about many changes. It has broken the myth about an established two-party system and the subservience of the voting public to maintaining the status quo. It has dealt with the political history of the JVP, a party long labelled violent and undemocratic. People have overcome their fears to place their trust in an alternate political organisation to lead Sri Lanka following a system collapse. It was a leap of faith that delivered the new leadership.
The country will elect members to a new parliament today. The electoral outcome will reflect people’s aspirations, decades after losing faith repeatedly. At the same time, the government will be watched carefully, not just for its economic performance but also for addressing the governance crisis.
The JVP/NPP has its work cutout for them. Beyond elections lies a period of delivering on promises, managing geostrategic interests, addressing twin crises, and developing the island almost from scratch. The work starts November 15.
(Views are personal.)
Dilrukshi Handunnetti
Award-winning journalist and lawyer. She is a founder and director of the Colombo-based Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR)
(dilrukshi@cir.lk)
(dilrukshihandunnetti@gmail.com)