‘You need change’: Sri Lanka’s leftist winner raises hopes, closes old divide | Election News

Colombo, Sri Lanka – Abdul Rahuman Seyyadu Sulaiman, 56, wanted to be heard.

When Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake was leaving the polling station at Abeysingharama Temple in Maradana, Colombo, on Thursday, Sulaiman called out to him, urging him to stop and listen to his grievances. The police immediately attacked Sulaiman and asked him to leave the area.

“I want to [Dissanayake] to listen to the plight of my people,” said Sulaiman later. “When the previous government burned a child during the COVID-19 crisis, I opposed it. I spoke for my religion. Justice was not given to Muslim people. “

Sulaiman’s hope that Dissanayake will deliver the justice his predecessors failed to achieve is echoed across Sri Lanka, which voted overwhelmingly for the left-leaning leader in September’s presidential election. Now, that hope will be tested like never before.

Dissanayake’s National People’s Power (NPP) won Thursday’s parliamentary election, winning 159 seats in the 225-member house – representing a comfortable two-thirds majority. The main opposition party, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), under its leader Sajith Premadasa, won only 40 seats.

Former President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s New Democratic Front won five seats, while Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) of the Rajapaksa family, which has dominated politics for the past two decades, won only three seats.

Samanmalee Gunasinghe of the NPP who contested and won in Colombo said: “We are happy that we can now serve the people. They have shown that they need a change in the old politics.”

Vote for change

According to political analyst Aruna Kulatunga, it is the first time since 1977 – when Sri Lanka changed its parliamentary system to have equal representation – that one party has won a clear majority. It is also the first time that the incumbent president has the necessary numbers to legislate in parliament without relying on any allies or partners.

“Therefore, the importance of this result is that the political fabric of Sri Lanka, which is divided by ethnicity, religion and ideology, has had the opportunity to unite behind one party,” said Kulatunga, “without the horse-trading that happened in the previous coalition governments and the resulting weakening of the electoral promises that were given.”

With a two-thirds majority, Dissanayake can now amend the constitution. Earlier the NPP promised a referendum on the new constitution.

Expectations of the NPP are high. Led by Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, Dissanayake’s Marxist-leaning NPP, the NPP includes many organizations, including civil society organizations that came together during the 2022 protests against the government of the then President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who was ousted from office.

Vasantha Raj, 38, a daily wage earner in Dehiwala, Colombo, said he did not know the names of the candidates for the NPP in his constituency but he voted for the coalition – it doesn’t matter who he represents.

“We have been voting for the same people for years and nothing has changed. In this case, we will see what these are [the NPP] to do,” said Raj.

Climbing up

Dissanayake, whose political fortunes have soared after the 2022 protests, is focusing his election campaign on strengthening the country’s economy and tackling rampant corruption. At the heart of the 2022 protest was anger over the collapse of Sri Lanka’s economy under the Rajapaksa family – Gotabaya Mahinda’s older brother was prime minister.

Wickremesinghe, who took power after the ousting of the Rajapaksas, stabilized the economy, using loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other lenders. But as part of the deal with the IMF, he also introduced tough austerity measures, slashed social security measures and raised taxes.

MF Sareena, 63, who accompanied her 83-year-old mother to vote in Dematagoda, Colombo, said she also hopes that the new government will fight corruption and provide assistance to the poor.

“My mother is very sick. He has grown up while I look at him. We find it difficult to live every day. Food prices are high, and medicine is unaffordable. We hope that things will change soon,” said Sareena.

On Friday, after the announcement of all the results, Nihal Abeysinghe, the secretary of the National People’s Power, acknowledged the burden of hope the party is carrying. “We will make sure that we will not abuse this power like people did in the past,” he said at a press conference.

Tamil support

The stakes are highest in the north of the country where the Tamil community has voted for the NPP, contrary to its pattern of voting for Tamil parties. The NPP won more seats in the north. The north and east of the country, where the majority of the Tamil population is based, was the scene of the most bloody fighting during the thirty-year civil war between Tamil rebels and the Sri Lankan army. The war ended in 2009 when the Sri Lankan military eliminated the armed Tamil leadership.

Ahilan Kadirgamar, a senior lecturer in sociology at the University of Jaffna, said that in the weeks before the parliamentary elections, there was a clear wave of support for the NPP in the Tamil community in the north. Many Tamil voters, he said, are angry with their community’s political leaders for failing to deliver on promises of a better deal for them.

Now, the hard work of the NPP begins, he said. In order to address the concerns of the people in the north and east, the Sri Lankan government should return the land that was taken by the military and other government departments, especially during the civil war. The government, he said, must address the concerns of the small Tamil and Muslim community, which is often targeted for xenophobia.

“This is not an easy task,” Kadirgamar said.