Two years after voters made Anura Kumara Dissanayake President, and gave his National People's Power 159 seats in Parliament a couple of months later, independent analysts mostly land on ‘mixed’. They credit the Government for steadying the economy and for a real anti-corruption push, but say the ‘system change’ at the heart of its pitch has made little progress.

The public is catching up with the analysts. Verité Research's July poll put approval of the Government at 49.83 per cent, down from 65 in February, and its economic confidence index slid from plus 36 to minus 8. Inflation rose from 1.6 per cent in February to 5.5 in May, and another fuel price revision is expected before the month ends. Dissanayake remains popular, but that is not the same as faith in his Government.

Credit is due. Growth of 5 per cent last year and an IMF programme kept on track are real, though the recovery began under the last administration. So is the willingness to let investigators pursue the powerful: two Rajapaksa-era ministers convicted, cases against members of the family moving through the courts, and perks for former presidents and pensions for MPs scrapped. A country that endured decades of impunity should not sneer at that.

Capacity is where the Government has been found wanting. Crisis Group says inexperience hindered the running of the State and arguably contributed to poor preparation for Cyclone Ditwah, which killed more than 800 people and caused US$ 4.1 billion in damage. This year ISAS has added a US$ 2.5 million Treasury payment diverted by fraudsters, of which only US$ 200 was reported recovered, and Aswesuma payments of some Rs. 248 million made twice. The official response, it says, was reactive and defensive.

Then there is integrity. After the coal procurement scandal, the NPP backed the Energy Minister in April's no-confidence vote, which Crisis Group says badly damaged its credibility as a reformer. The President later acknowledged in Parliament that substandard coal had been bought, and the minister resigned. Crisis Group also says the party's moral rhetoric invites charges of hypocrisy and its replies often sound arrogant. Those who preach clean politics must accept being measured by it.

Structural reform has been put off. Provincial council elections, promised within a year, have not been held, though the Election Commission says it could run them in about four months under the old system. Neil DeVotta of Wake Forest University says the delay reportedly reflects fear of poor results, and points to moves to weaken the Right to Information Act. The executive presidency stands. The President is right in saying that a hasty Constitution would serve nobody, and the CPA found only about a quarter of respondents want abolition begun at once. Yet his remark in Matara that the Government could not be shaken for decades did little to calm the doubters.

The judiciary dispute is where these worries meet. The 22nd Amendment would raise the retirement age of Supreme Court judges from 65 to 67 and of Court of Appeal judges from 63 to 65. The Bar Association and 40 professional bodies and trade unions say it threatens judicial independence. More than 100 petitions are before a five-judge Bench, and Parliament is due to debate the Bill on Thursday and Friday once the Bench has ruled. The Government says the change will help speed up trials, but its case has wobbled. The backlog of 1.1 million cases it first cited sits overwhelmingly in the Magistrate's and District Courts, the plan was widened to all judges only after the Judicial Service Association objected, and in June the Cabinet spokesman said there had been no such discussion. The Opposition is no model guardian, and the personal attacks by some of its MPs on the Chief Justice were unworthy of the House. But a poor Opposition does not make a good amendment. If a referendum is required, the Government says it will hold one; the country should hold it to that. The UN human rights office has recorded a pattern of surveillance and intimidation of activists and journalists.

Three years remain, and the 2027 Budget on 12 November is the next test. Stability came from staying the course. Change will need the Government to accept the limits it once demanded of others, starting with provincial polls and a fair hearing for the Bar's objections. The mandate was for a new way of governing. The country is still waiting to see it.