Further to a commentary I penned (SN, August 9) comparing aspects of politics in Sri Lanka and Guyana, the former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa has failed in his attempt to make a political comeback.
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He was first appointed as the Prime Minister from 1993 – 1994 after the assassination of former President Ranasinghe Premadasa. Wickremesinghe took the oath for a fourth term at his office in Colombo overlooking the Indian Ocean in a ceremony broadcast live on national television.
He will be sworn in as prime minister this week after his UNP won 106 seats in the 225-member house, up from about 40 in the previous election.
The SLFP, headed by President Sirisena, has said on Thursday that it would join the UNF for two years.
Rajapakse and his team of advisers, which included a majority of the leading lights of the SLFP – except President Maithripala Sirisena – should have realised that in the six months that have elapsed since the last election, Sirisena has not committed any grave mistake that would dent his credibility. The Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), which had hoped to be a “third force” in parliament, came in for disappointment, getting just 6 seats. Dr Godfrey Gunetilleke, Chair Emeritus of the Marga Institute, an independent think tank, noted that both Sirisena and Wickremesinghe explicitly said during the presidential and parliamentary election campaigns that they would try to form a national government.
On Wednesday, Mr Wickremesinghe pledged to build a consensus and invited all political parties to work together, either by accepting a ministerial position or through the parliamentary committees.
“Ranil Wickremesinghe is the closest thing Sri Lanka has to a free-market politician with a worldview”, he said.
They have been bitter rivals for decades, and such cooperation is unusual in Sri Lankan politics.
Political analysts said Monday’s vote was essentially a referendum on Rajapaksa’s popularity.
Since his presidential loss, there has been a sharp reversal of fortunes for Rajapaksa, his family and friends, who were once all-powerful controllers of the nation.
On the other hand, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe wanted to retain Ravi Karunanayake in the finance ministry, but with some of the functions taken away for the new Strategic Development Ministry.
Sirisena was promptly sacked by Rajapaksa for challenging him in the January 8 election.
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 global Crisis Group, a policy research group.
But, all the while, Sirisena was seeking to broaden support at home and overseas, courting U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and British Prime Minister David Cameron.
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Wickremesinghe, whose reform agenda was stalled due to Mahinda Rajapaksa’s loyalists blocking some of his moves, now has teeth to get his way in enforcement of his plans after his victory.
