Sri Lankans head to polls seeking fresh faces, path to recovery

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) – Millions of Sri Lankans are set to vote Thursday to elect a new parliament in snap polls called by the country’s recently elected president to seek a fresh mandate to continue his economic reforms.

More than 8,800 candidates are vying for 196 seats from 22 electoral districts and 29 national list seats to form a 225-member parliament for a five-year term, according to the country’s Election Commission.

Seats are allocated proportionately according to votes polled.

Individual lawmakers get elected based on the preferential votes cast in their favor. Each voter is entitled to mark three individual preferences.

Campaigning for the 10th parliamentary elections closed at midnight on Monday, with major political parties and independent candidates making last-ditch pitches to garner support from the 17 million voters.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, popularly known as AKD, who was elected in September, dissolved parliament a day after he assumed office.

Analysts say the parliamentary election is realistically a continuation of the presidential election.

The snap polls are seen as AKD’s bid to “strengthen his power through parliament, especially if he is to implement his pledges” made ahead of the presidential election, Munza Mushtaq, a journalist based in the capital Colombo, told Anadolu.

- Entry of new faces as veterans shy away

Several veteran politicians, including former Presidents Ranil Wickremesinghe, Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Mahinda Rajapaksa, have stayed away from the polls, paving the way for scores of new faces to enter parliament.

Scores of ministers and deputies from the previous governments have also opted out of the race.

AKD wrapped up his campaigning for the crucial election by pledging economic consolidation under his new government.

His National People's Power (NPP) alliance seeks a majority in parliament to carry out its “anti-corruption” and “low taxation” agenda.

With Dissanayake's win, Mushtaq said, “the sentiment for change is continuing.”

While Mushtaq said the NPP is expected to “win the majority of the seats as part of the growing momentum for change,” the road to a parliamentary majority is not easy, given the fact that AKD could not secure 50% of the votes in the presidential election. Besides, the island nation is not a single electorate.

Also, the president is not in the race, and most of his candidates are not known to voters.

However, Mushtaq reckoned that the momentum of “change” has forced politicians from the traditional opposition parties to stay out of race.

Namal Rajapaksa, son of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, “decided not to contest the election,” said Mushtaq.

Namal had contested the September presidential election against AKD but received only 2.3%.

With this election, “for the first time in decades, we are seeing a majority of new faces, some quite young, and first-time runners representing a plethora of political parties as well as independent groups,” Mushtaq noted.

The new lot also includes activists, “some who were part of the ‘aragalaya’ or ‘peoples struggle’ which were instrumental in forcing” former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign, said Mushtaq.

Rajapaksa stepped down and fled Sri Lanka in July 2022 after the island nation declared bankruptcy in April that year.

Protestors had stormed the presidential palace due to the economic crisis that had gripped the nation as the world was slowly emerging from the coronavirus pandemic.

- Economy, anti-corruption, accountability

According to Mushtaq, voter demand in the run-up to the parliamentary polls is the same as that seen ahead of the September presidential election.

“Primary among this is a ‘system change’ – moving away from the traditional ruling political elite, which the country has seen for many decades,” she said.

Since the economic crisis, “the people have been calling for an end to corruption and more accountability and demand that previous as well as senior and popular politicians quit politics,” said Mushtaq.

AKD has pledged to renegotiate with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) once he “receives the necessary strength at parliament level,” she said.

Sri Lanka is currently undergoing an IMF program of $2.9 billion, and AKD has reaffirmed his government's commitment to the goals of the international lender while emphasizing "alternative approaches to ease the burden” on his people.

- Embattled opposition

Key opposition parties including Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) and the United National Party (UNP) are struggling to retain their votes after conceding a crushing defeat in the presidential election amid a trend by voters to move on from the legacy of a troublesome past.

SJB leader Sajith Premadasa, who is also the leader of the opposition in the outgoing parliament, kept pushing his message of an economic recovery, contending that his party had a “viable” plan for strong economic growth over the next decade.

Premadasa came second in the presidential election with 34% of the vote.

Mushtaq said the SJB led by Premadasa is expected to win a sizeable number of seats in parliament, “although it’s still unclear to say if they could retain their previous position as the opposition in parliament. A notable factor is that at least around 30 senior and popular former lawmakers from the one-time powerful SLPP decided not to contest the election this time out of fear of losing,” she added.

- ‘Unity and development’

Dissanayake, who had concentrated more on the Sinhala-dominated south and central regions in the presidential election, has pushed a concerted campaign with the theme of “unity and development” in the north and the east of the island nation, inhabited largely by Tamils and Muslims, respectively, in hopes of a breakthrough.

In the northern town of Jaffna, he assured fishermen that his government would take action against cross-border fishing, highlighting the issue of “deliberate” fishing by Indians in Sri Lankan waters.

*Riyaz ul Khaliq contributed to the report from Istanbul