National Government Not The Answer For Sri Lanka
Dr S.I. Keethaponcalan
Elections are generally problematic in Sri Lanka. More often than not, they are marred by violence, malpractices and abuses. Thanks to the signals sent out by the new government that came to power in January 2015, and the assertiveness of the Election Commissioner, the country managed to conclude a free, fair and largely peaceful election for parliament on 17 August 2015.
The election was closely contested, the primary contest was between the United National Front (UNF) and the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) led by former president Mahinda Rajapaksa. Rajapaska, who was defeated convincingly in the January 2015 presidential election, was trying to come back to power through parliament, and he had the support of mostly Sinhala-nationalist constituencies.
Although no party managed to win a clear majority of 113 seats in the national legislature, the UNF emerged as the clear winner with 106 seats. In fact, the party has 107 seats as one of its allies, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), which contested under the UNF symbol of elephant won a seat on its own (with its symbol of a tree) in the Eastern Province. This puts the UNF only six seats short of a simple majority, which could have been achieved with crossovers from the UPFA, as several of the UPFA members, it is believed, are eager to join the new government. Meanwhile, the UPFA, which won only 95 seats, had absolutely no possibility of forming a government as the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) could not support the UPFA in general, and Mahinda Rajapaksa in particular. These two parties were instrumental in bringing Rajapaksa down in January; they were not prepared to bring him back to power.
Against this backdrop the idea of a national government was mooted between the UNF and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) – the predominant partner of the UPFA.Read More