Almost two weeks after the Local Government Elections, it appears that President Anura Kumara Dissanayake is yet to come to terms with the people’s verdict. In every speech made since, he has attempted to paint the results as a resounding victory for his National People’s Power (NPP) even though the results indicate a 34% decline in support compared with the Parliamentary Polls six months ago. Although attempting to show a brave face, it is apparent that the President is seething over the performance of the NPP at the recent poll as well as in Government thus far, where the performance of key ministers has come under scrutiny.
According to reports, not only has the President directed his anger at his own party behind closed doors, even leading to speculation of a Cabinet reshuffle, but gone to the extent of publicly threatening Opposition parties hoping to form alliances in order to govern the councils in which they have majority control that such attempts will be met with force. He has warned these parties that he will not hesitate to use the Executive powers of his office as well as the two-thirds majority the NPP enjoys in Parliament to stifle such attempts. Unsurprisingly, this veiled threat from the President – the first to be elected with a minority vote of just 42% – has raised a hornet’s nest, with the collective Opposition taking the fight to the President.
While Dissanayake has taken the stance that the NPP has the right to form councils in local bodies it has won even though the collective Opposition has a majority, stating that the Government will not hesitate to amend laws to pave the way for it, Opposition parties point to the mandate the people have given them and their responsibility to respect that mandate. Overall, Opposition parties have polled 5.9 million votes translating to 4,966 councillors, as opposed to the NPP’s 4.5 million votes and 3,926 councillors.
In a situation where the anti-Government vote is clearly larger than the pro-Government vote, threatening to use Executive power in favour of the governing party is not only anti-democratic but is also an affront to the sovereignty of the people. The President in particular and the NPP in general must recognise and respect the fact that members elected to the Opposition are also chosen by the people, which is the essence of a functioning democracy, and it is their prerogative to act in a manner in keeping with the mandate received, including and not limited to uniting in order to gain control of councils in which the collective Opposition has more members than the NPP. After all, democracy permits any group that can show a majority, in this instance in the new councils, to have the right to form the administration of those councils.
In light of the President’s threat to use the power at his disposal in favour of his party, the NPP, questions are being raised as to why this same power cannot be used to fulfil a promise he has been making for the last three decades – that being to abolish the Executive Presidency. It will be recalled that the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) extended its support to President Chandrika Kumaratunga back in 1994 for that specific purpose. Thereafter it was the same reason that made the party support Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2005.
Even in its current election manifesto, the abolition of the Executive Presidency is at the top of the agenda. Interestingly though, ever since Dissanayake’s election in September last year, not a word has been spoken about fulfilling this 30-year-old promise given the ease with which it can be done in the present context, with the NPP’s overwhelming majority in Parliament. Instead, we now have a situation where that same office is being used to issue threats to Opposition parties.
Besides, people are questioning as to why the President is talking of amending laws only when his party seems affected but not when so many other social issues warrant the same. For instance, isn’t there a need to amend the archaic laws that govern Police brutality, where cops take on the role of judge and jury and suspects die in custody under mysterious circumstances? What about strengthening road rules in order to stop the massacre that is taking place on our roads on a daily basis, with nearly 1,000 deaths reported in just the first five months of this year? What about the need to introduce tough new legislation to prevent child abuse where those with ‘connections’ are able to dodge the law?
Even if the NPP decides to steamroll its way in Parliament and introduce the legislation threatened by its Party Leader, that will not be as easy as it looks. The party needs to be mindful of the fact that whatever change it intends to introduce to the electoral law cannot have retrospective effect and will only apply to the future. Therefore, the entire exercise runs the risk of being redundant. However, if the party still wishes to persist, it must also overcome the substantial hurdle of securing the assent of the Supreme Court.
The story will not end there either. Any changes to the electoral law must also be submitted for the people’s approval at a referendum, unless certain changes proposed by the Supreme Court have been accommodated as well. Given that the President himself failed to secure 50% of the vote at the Presidential Election and the last local election has returned 43% to the NPP, the success rate of such a referendum is not too hard to guess.
Besides, the Government must be mindful of the repercussions of its statements such as the one on introducing laws to stifle Opposition alliances, as they are in fact not only a direct affront to Asia’s oldest democracy but can also be easily perceived as anti-democratic by the West, to which the nation is beholden for its export markets. Incidentally, the European Union’s GSP Plus scheme is currently under review and it is critically important that unnecessary complications are avoided in light of the lack of progress in the US tariff negotiations.
The joint statement the President promised in this regard weeks ago is yet to materialise and indications are that exporters will have to prepare for a rough road ahead. Not only that, Sri Lanka also runs the risk of once again being dumped in the doghouse for its perceived anti-democratic actions, which will inevitably result in more road blocks from the West.
Therefore, it is far more advisable for the NPP and its leadership to allow the democratic process that has served this country well all this time to take its course as far as the local councils are concerned, where whichever alliance that can show a majority is granted the right to form an administration, and instead focus its energies inward, in finding out the reasons for the sharp erosion in support in such a relatively short time. Living in denial and boasting of victories can only go so far before reality bites and Sri Lanka is once again thrust into uncertainty and instability.
The 300% gain shown by the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna is proof that the narrative of labelling everyone other than the NPP as corrupt is wearing thin and won’t last long unless all of whom it calls crooks and rogues are proven as such before the law. Rather, the NPP must attempt to rediscover itself – the one that was able to go from 3% to 43% – and begin to look at the larger canvas.
The President, instead of acting on party lines, should at least now take a hint from the Local Government Polls message and transition to the role of statesman, rising above narrow partisan politics. While criticising political opponents is part and parcel of politics and an integral aspect of a functioning democracy, threatening opponents with restrictive legislation through resort to Executive power is certainly not. Given that the collective Opposition polled nearly 30% more than the NPP at the last poll, the writing is on the wall for the regime to amend its ways.