Socialist parties in Sri Lanka facing new challenge: NPP

Colombo, October 28 (Daily Mirror) - The National People’s Party (NPP) which obtained a single seat at the Elpitiya Pradeshiya Sabha elections held yesterday, said people have made it clear in recent times that socialist parties cannot run a government effectively and safeguard its socialist ideology at the same time.

National People’s Party (NPP) leader Manjula Nishantha told a briefing that the results of Elpitiya Pradeshiya Sabha elections showed a decline in votes for socialist parties. He said the people seemed to strive for new right-wing political parties instead.

“The challenge before any socialist party is running a government and safeguarding their ideology at the same time. The National People’s Power (NPP) government has intervened to keep the prices of coconuts stable by trying to distribute coconuts by itself. The Government will have to bear an additional expenditure to distribute essential goods by itself. It should think of some other way to keep the market going,” Manjula Nishantha added.

He said the NPP government’s policy of going in for Treasury bills and bond issues was also against the socialist ideology which the NPP had stood for while being in the opposition.

“This situation makes it clear that it is not possible to safeguard socialist parties and run a government effectively at the same time,” he said.

He said the Elpitiya election results have also indicated that people are beginning to abandon traditional right-wing parties and nepotism. 

“This was evident at the Presidential election as people seemed to have abandoned their trust in parties formed by the Bandaranaikes, Rajapaksas and Senanayakes,” he said.

“We have positioned ourselves as a new right-wing party and we hope to contest all districts at all future elections. We are indeed encouraged by our success at the Elpitiya  Pradeshiya Sabha elections,” he also said.