His victory on Monday thwarted a political comeback by the country’s former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, months after he lost the presidential polls to President Maithripala Sirisena.
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On yesterday, Rajapaksa accepted the results “with humility” and said he “will continue to engage in politics in keeping with the people’s mandate and I will function within parliament to safeguard the nation and the democratic system”. Instead, he faced the ignominy of a second successive defeat.
The UNP won 106 seats at the Monday’s election, seven short of a majority in the 225-member parliament.
The focus of the election had been on Rajapaksa’s attempt to return to power and what it would mean for Sirisena’s reforms. The election results, which showed the dominance of the moderate Tamil National Alliance, which has said it will work with the UNFGG with issue-based support, indicates that the moderate approach prevailed. This reinforced the sense of insecurity experienced by the minorities and turned their vote against him once again.
“Six years after the war, in January, people voted for a specific change and this in many ways, is a continuation”. In Guyana, they also want consensual politics and an end to racial rivalry. The extensive network of patronage from which Rajapaksa family and friends benefited will have to be dismantled.
He has been the leader of the United National Party since 1994.
The Union also stressed that all political actors should play a constructive role in this process.
On Wednesday, Wickremesinghe pledged to build consensus on national policies and invited all political parties to work together, either by accepting a ministerial position or through the parliament committees. Wickremesinghe will need the backing of Sirisena’s loyalists in the SLFP but he cannot forget the support of Tamils and Muslims to the UNP alliance.
Wickremesinghe took oath before President Maithripala Sirisena, reports Xinhua news agency.
Wickremesinghe is a man with a clear notion of what he wants and how to get it done. The question would then be asked if Ranil and the UNP really won this time, too – or, could have won without the smaller, “minority” parties. A Rajapaksa spokesman tweeted that he “hasn’t but acquired official last outcomes” and was not prepared to say victory or concede defeat.
But he came back to fight for the prime minister’s office.
It remains to be seen how quickly the government will investigate human-rights abuses during the war, release detainees and free up land seized by the military, according to Alan Keenan, Sri Lanka Project Director for international Crisis Group, a policy research group. It will also need to address longstanding grievances of the Tamils. If Wickremesinghe falters, the ever populist Rajapaksa will be waiting to return.
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People gather on Galle Face Green as commercial buildings in the central business district stand in the background in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
