In spite of the Supreme Court having issued an interim order preventing the Treasury Secretary from withholding funds for the local government elections from the allocations made for the purpose by the budget that was passed in December last year, the uncertainty in holding election still prevails. The Election Commission had told the Daily Mirror on Sunday that elections could be held only in the latter half of April and this might provide the government ample opportunity to create new issues delaying the elections.

However, political parties would continue their campaigns unless the events in the days to come did not put off the polls months behind. Yet, what is worrying is the propaganda programmes already launched by parties are fast turning into smear campaigns instead of being awareness programmes. The last year’s Aragalaya stressed the need of a system change and not a mere change of heads in the name of regime change. A system change would be a remote possibility unless the voters are better informed of the plans and programmes of political parties for taking the country out of the mess that it is currently in.

The two parties in the government, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) and the United National Party (UNP) seem to be unfazed by the election either in some sort of certainty in the postponement of the elections or due to the apprehensiveness about the emerging political trends in the country against them. Against this backdrop the recent opinion polls justify the marathon campaigns by the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) and the Jathika Jana Balawegaya (JJB). 

Nevertheless, all hopefuls and those hopeless have resorted to mudslinging against other parties. They are primarily spending time and energy to explain the people as to why they shouldn’t vote for others rather than why they should vote for themselves. They refresh the older generation’s memory about ruthlessness of others when armed clashes broke out between the armed forces and the rebels in the past. They recall how others behaved as political rogues or teamed up with such evil groups in the past. They accuse others of stealing or destroying public properties. 

In fact, no political party in the country can absolve itself from these sins. Some of the past and present leaders of almost all parties have blood stains in their hands. The ruthlessness of the JVP during its two insurrections is well known, despite the governments of the day having pushed them to take to arms. It was during the government led by the leaders of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, Lanka Samasamaja Party and the Communist Party of Sri Lanka in 1971 that Sri Lankans saw the tyre-pyres and bodies floating in rivers, for the first time after the Matale Rebellion in 1848. 

The number of unlawful killings and disappearances at the hands of armed force and state sponsored death squads during the 1988/89 JVP insurrection was said to be over 60,000. Neither the UNP nor the SJB can wash their hands of those crimes. The names of torture chambers that were said to be operating those dark days are also circulating in social media these days. Thousands of civilian casualties in the northern and eastern battlefronts as well as extrajudicial killings took place in places like the Welikada Prison during the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime are still haunting the country, every year when the UNHRC meets in Geneva. Yet, now pots are calling the kettles black.

The fact that the current economic mess is the outcome of the 75 year-long mismanagement and large scale corruption has gone international and been accepted even by those who ruled the country. Unfortunately, the same politicians and groups that helped them are still in the field and people have to choose the future leaders from among them again. The people might have some hope, only if any of these individuals and groups have reformed, despite their dark history. Hence, it is up to the politicians to indicate that they have reformed.

Though the election that has been declared would not immediately change the regime, it has gained much significance since it is in a way the first opinion poll after the Aragalaya that immensely changed the political thinking pattern of vast number of people in the country. Definitely, this election is going to be a trend setter.

Therefore, Politicians must come out with their policies and programmes to resolve the issues faced by the people and the people in turn must not be misled by the smear campaigns and rhetoric by politicians to commit the same mistake they did for over seven decades. Instead, they must critically and objectively evaluate the policies and programmes of political parties and their viability, before entering the polling booth.