Political parties, elections and addressing people’s needs - EDITORIAL

This year 2024, has been a year of elections. Elections were held in India, the UK and  France. Elections are due in our own country on September 21 and in November the US will elect a new president. It originally appeared the US was about to set a new record -fielding the oldest candidates ever- with current president Joe Biden at 81 and his challenger ex-President Trump at spritely 78 years. 
The vagaries of age and ailments however transformed the face of the US election, with President Biden (Democratic Party) dropping out of the race and his 59-year-old Vice President Kamala Harris taking his place. 

The change of contestants has turned the face of the US election upside down. 

Former President Trump who was leading in polls surveys over Biden, suddenly found himself trailing Harris. He (Trump) also suddenly finds himself having to change his whole election strategy. His original plan -harping on Biden’s age and other age-related problems- has backfired, with Trump now the oldest man contesting a US presidential election.

 In like manner, in our own country President Wickremesinghe will be setting a record of sorts, contesting the presidential elections at the ripe age of 75 years. He too has received a shock of sorts, with his former biggest backers in parliament -the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP)- unexpectedly announcing they will not support his candidature, but will put forward a candidate of their own. 

Wickremesinghe’s main rivals for the post of president however will not change. Sajith Premadasa 57, of the Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) and Anura Kumara Dissanayake 55 years of the National People’s Power (NPP) remain the main contenders for the post of president. 

On the other side of the divide stand the voters you and I. 

While the politicians and the main political parties backing their particular candidates call on us to give our valuable vote to them, none of them seem to understand our plight. 

Salaries have remained static since the days of the Covid pandemic. Yet, the cost of living has risen astronomically. Basic monthly salaries in the formal sector vary between Rs. 40, 000 to Rs. 60,000. Meanwhile, a family of four needs an income of over Rs. 100,000  to have two basic nutritious meals a day. 

According to the Central Bank at the national level, the percentage of underweight children under five years increased to 15.3 per cent in 2022 from 12.2 per cent in 2021. Since the country declared bankruptcy and the rising cost of living the figure has not lessened.

Government’s statistics show over 500,000 temporary workers lost their means of income due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the economic meltdown. During the same time, the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) reports it had disconnected a total of 544,488 accounts in the first 10 months of 2023 out of its seven million customer base.  

Due to the rising cost of electricity, many households who are struggling financially cannot pay their bills. The number of disconnections by the board continues to grow to this day. 

In other words it means that the education of children from these families are adversely affected. They will be forced to be the drawers of water and hewers of wood to the elite among our citizens. 

Simply criticising is not sufficient. Voters need to know concrete plans of how the candidates hope to tackle these problems.  

Most importantly, whoever is to win the presidential election this time around, will need the backing of minority communities. It is no secret that minority communities have suffered at the hands of sections of the majority community. To date no political entity has put forward steps they will put in place to conquer fears of minority communities.  

If such plans are part of their political milieu, political parties need to make them public before the election as part of their manifestos.  

Another problem faced by the country is that of corruption. Tackling corruption will be difficult as all contesting parties have been part of corrupt governments at one time or the other.  

Do our politicians have the political will to rid the land of corruption? Let them let us know how they will practically tackle it.