Political ignorance and electoral seesaw

The Opposition parties in Sri Lanka seem to be banking on the failures of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) government to come to power at the next Presidential as well as Parliamentary elections. It is natural, and it has to be so, but it would be the people who are going to lose again, as happened after each election since the Independence, if any of the current Opposition parties comes to power without viable solutions to the problems faced by the country as well as the people.

It is clear that the current government is at a loss almost in every aspect of governance, whatever and whoever the reason may be. It has failed in containing the cost of living which is skyrocketing and seems to have gone out of hand. The farmers’ protests against the prevailing fertilizer shortage in the country is on an upward trend and government leaders are making an ostrich-like approach towards it, while attempting to portray it as an Opposition conspiracy. While the farmers were demanding fertilizer - whether it is chemical or organic - the leaders of the government are delivering sermons on the advantages of organic fertilizer. 

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and many ministers have publicly accepted the rationality of the Principals’ and teachers’ struggle for the removal of the salary anomaly they have been experiencing for the past 24 years, but seem to be clueless as to how it should be resolved. 

It was the terrorist attacks on the Christian churches and hotels on 2019 Easter Sunday that helped the SLPP most to come to power. The pro SLPP media created a tsunami-like anti-Muslim campaign subsequent to the terrorist attacks which ultimately made a tremendous impact on the Sinhalese constituency to vote almost en-masse to the SLPP. The campaign created a huge hope of a major discovery of an underlying massive conspiracy behind the Easter Sunday carnage, after the ascension of the SLPP to power. However, it has now resulted in even the Catholic leaders turning against the government.   

Apart from exploiting these issues, the Opposition parties have been making allegations against the government of selling national assets to foreigners and corruption in Sugar imports and recent selling and repurchasing of garlic by the Sathosa among others, which are serious and eroded the credibility of the government even among its supporters. 

The main issue that has been instrumental to many of the current government’s woes is the draining of the foreign reserves of the country. It is primarily an outcome of the passive political and economic policies of the past as well as the current governments. And the COVID 19 had brought the situation to a head. The pandemic has heavily impacted on the exports – directly and indirectly, wrecked the tourism industry and had a considerable shock on the remittances by the migrant workers. 

Do the Opposition parties that are exploiting this situation have solution to these problems? Only the JVP seems to be analyzing the economic situation of the country in a convincing manner but the solutions it proposes for these issues remain vague and more theoretical than being pragmatic. Besides, Sri Lankan voters who are always driven by psychological bribes by politicians are unlikely even to try out that party in power. The main Opposition, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) is clueless on how to deal with the situation, despite them attempting to exploit the failures of the government. If people are to vote for them, it is merely due to their frustration over the awful performance of the current government. 

The Sri Lankan election history has not been a history of rational thinking on the part of the voter. In most cases they have been driven by false promises and unattainable dreams. Regime changes have occurred mainly due to the frustration over the incumbent leaders and never on the basis of being rationally convinced of the new leaders’ credentials. In short they always knew who to defeat but never knew how to choose the correct party and the candidate. Thus, they defeated the UNP in 1956 due to its excessive leniency towards the West and elected a nationalistic government, but only to see a more number of strikes than the number of days in a year. 

Then, disappointed by the rising cost of living they defeated the SLFP government in 1965 and voted the UNP to power again but only to bringing in a SLFP government back in five years for the same reason. That resulted in a famine-like situation which prompted the voters to again – for the third time – elect a UNP led government. The bulk of these two parties are now behind the banners of SLPP and SJB. Hence, this political seesaw still continues with people not realizing on what basis they ought to elect their government.