Sri Lanka Presidential Elections: Has Protest Vote brought Yahapalana 3 to power?
September 29th, 2024Shenali D Waduge
Anura Kumara Dissanayake representing the JVP-NPP becomes the 9th President of Sri Lanka. Ironically, the majority of votes that crowned him President was from disgruntled 4.5million plus SLPP voters who were part of the 6.9million voters that brought Gotabaya Rajapakse to power in 2019 & was overthrown by the very groups that the sitting President was steering in 2022. Sri Lanka has no shortage of political dramas. If we thought we had seen intrigues in parliamentary democracy after Ranil Wickremasinghe was rejected by voters in August 2020 & after a year of wrestling, returned to Parliament securing the sole national list seat given to the UNP in 2023 & within less than a year became the Prime Minister in 2022 & thereafter the President in July 2022, the outcome in 2024 takes the cake!
The wrath of the voters
Throughout the election campaign & even prior a slogan spread across society was the need for a wenasa” or change” – it was soon parroted by all. This was combined with the demand to capture the thieves and end corruption. How easily this could be done, was never thought, forgotten too was how yahapalana regime change came with ending corruption” & recovering stolen wealth” which only ended up in teams enjoying a nice holiday courtesy the tax payers to all corners of the world & returning without finding any stolen wealth! In fact, in one of his last speeches to the public, the incumbent president declared that the government of Gotabaya Rajapakse was not responsible for the economic crisis, thus negating his own narrative that had been one of the key reasons for the 2022 ousting of the President. Some of the expats screaming about corruption are also guilty of sending money to Sri Lanka through undial & hawala system as are some local businesses. Nevertheless, unlike Bangladesh a democratic coup did take place using corruption” slogan no different to how it was used in 2015 as well. This was a repeat performance to bring a co-collaborator of that coup to power.
The mentality of revenge & hate has become a key to steering voter sentiment through well-choreographed media campaigns & key political figures. These drained into the minds of people successfully enabled the transfer of votes to bring about an anticipated victory which however went to the 2nd count & resulted in the victor obtaining less than 50% of the votes and being rejected by the main minority.
The promise of salary increase did not sway public sector votes. The voting pattern of North East saw no change. In fact, the former President found out once again that he could never get elected to the office of President. While the elected President found out he became President from the votes of the party (SLPP) he was attacking for over a decade!
The ignorance of the voters & their inability & lack of critical thinking & analytical skills as well as linking Sri Lanka’s politics with external interferences & pressures & understanding the dynamics at play is also a key reason for the failure of voters to be able to vote wisely. This ignorance will no doubt will be used in future election campaigning as well.
Does corruption exist only in Sri Lanka? Are only the MPs corrupt? Do only MPs take bribes? What about the givers? Are they as guilty as the takers? How corrupt is the 1.4million Public Service as against the 225+1 Parliament? How corrupt are those in the corporate sector in particular the top companies that secure underhand deals through Public Sector & Political connections? What about the media & their role in steering voter sentiment via sensationalism, are they not equally guilty? If there is to be any change wenasa” shouldn’t all the entities linked to corruption be under the same lens of scrutiny or does it only have to be targeted politicians? Is this corruption in reality a witch hunt based on political bias where every political party lands their opponents in prison for corruption”? Is this what the voters also want to see? Are voters of a political party happy to see only their opponent MPs in prison? Is this the norm of good governance” to be followed?
Protest Vote – Voter Revenge Culture
An ugly precedent has been created primarily via psychological operation using social media & funded electronic media campaigns where owners are aligned to a political party, breed in the minds of voters the need to cast their vote based on hate / revenge completely ignoring the suitability of candidates or party, what they promise to fulfil via their manifestos & whether they can assure to protect some non-negotiable factors that concern the Nation (Not compromising National Security / Maintaining the Unitary Status of Sri Lanka / Foremost place historical held by Buddha Sasana / Protecting National Assets & Resources & Safety of the People of Sri Lanka). Manifestos have become simply a coffee table souvenir which 99% voters do not read. We saw this revenge emerge during the 2015 regime change, thereafter again in 2019 & 2020, it reached unsavory heights in 2022 where democracy was dumped opting for jungle law and it re-emerged again in 2024.
The ruthlessness has been such that the very force that brought GR to power completely deserted its party in 2024 to put their eggs to put a new President in power. JVP leader would never have come to power without the 4.5m SLPP votes he received in 2024.
Similarly, the clash of egos resulted in the inability of Ranil Wickremasinghe & Sajith to team up as the grand old party to contest as President & PM which would have easily brought victory. What cannot be ignored is that in terms of agenda there is no difference in UNP-SJB or JVP if NPP liberal wing have its way in the new government & decision making.
With each revenge vote, the governance has been declining, the economy has been declining & society shockingly is also in decline both morally & intellectually. They say revenge returns with karma & it is most likely that karma will not be kind when it comes back to haunt those that cast vote for revenge. Sadly, the Nation will have to bear the brunt until a righteous leader eventually takes over. The culture of revenge politics must end for us to really develop.
Political partys are happy to work with the formula of being thrown out of power & then returning to power and forming alliances to fool the masses with no comprehensive national plan or policies! The voters have to shoulder responsibility for this culture, politicians have got used to.
Never forget or undermine role of invisible” external forces
Much as we boast of the democracy” that prevails, we cannot ignore aspects like Cambridge Analytica that facebook was found guilty of filtering people’s psyche and subtlety brainwashing their opinions. Social media though used by only 8million (34% population) has been playing a key role since 2015 & surged during the 2022 aragalaya which was to be the 1st Bangladesh but was foiled. These platforms are generally controlled by external forces via locals that are employed by them. The West’s divide & rule policies continue. This is how parties suddenly split & new leaders emerge. All are either pawns or become pawns to remain in power. Even voters become pawns if they fall prey to the calculated propaganda via communication channels that are controlled by these invisible external forces.
Nevertheless, even with 42% of votes, a new President sits in power. He deserves a chance. All the rhetoric in Parliament while in the Opposition is now put to the test. People are watching & waiting results. Just as the President while in Opposition made demands for action & results, he too is now tasked to deliver results. These should not follow the same template but attempt to create proper policy & rule-based orders, some immediate appointments however have raised eyebrows but the President will find out sooner than later, appointing controversial or people with conflict of interest is to his disadvantage and will boomerang on public perception with time.
No doubt, the President is riding a thin line as ground realities are opposite to what he perceived while sitting in the Opposition. One has to be in the hot seat to find out! The foreign media have not helped either dubbing him Marxist” and Left-aligned” though in his inaugural address he neither mentioned the founder of his party nor the sacrifices thousands of youth made in taking an anti-Indian stand against the Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987.
No doubt the future of his party will be decided, which is probably why a new entrant in the form of NPP was plugged to it, just as SLFP was broken to form SLPP and UNP was broken to form SJB. In short what it reveals is the liberal foxes have crept into all of the political parties as sheep to advance agendas of external forces. This is the newest threat to all of the political parties in Sri Lanka.
What’s left to be seen is whether the new government is the new Yahapalana 3 – the new appointments, alliances after new Parliament sits will confirm this.
Shenali D Waduge
ජාතිය මුහුදෙන අභියෝගය සහ ජාතික බලවේගවලට පැවරී ඇති ඓතිහාසික වගකීම පිළිබඳව පැහැදිලි කරමින් ජාතික සංවිධාන එකමුතුව මගින් ජනාධිපති අනුර කුමාර දිසානායක මහතා වෙත ලිපියක් යොමුකොට තිබේ.
