Electoral dynamics in Sri Lanka
Statement on the Southern Provincial
Council Election by the Higher Education Minister, Prof. Wiswa Warnapala
The recent Provincial Council Elections, especially the latest
Provincial Council Election in the South, demonstrated that President,
Mahinda Rajapaksa, has emerged the ruler imperative of Sri Lanka,
because of the following main changes taking place in the electoralism
in Sri Lanka.
Minister, Prof. Wiswa Warnapala |
His style of leadership and his populist approach shows that he is
displaying the characteristics of such great leaders as Nehru of India
and Jhon F. Kennedy of U.S.A., in appealing to the general masses in
this sense, his appeal and approach to the rural masses is very much
Nehruvian in character and orientation. Through such a style of
leadership, he has successfully articulated the aspirations of the
ordinary people, and the election in the South demonstrated this
feature.
Since the introduction of the adult suffrage in 1931, the Sri Lankan
polity was allowed to grow on the basis of the Parliamentary
institutions of Government which were then in an infancy stage.
Political parties grew into a competitive, multi-party system and till
1977, it was this structure which dominated the electoral process in Sri
Lanka. During 1948-1977, there were only seven political parties in the
country, and they have been formed on the basis of a national political
agenda.
This multi-party structure later came to be divided into two sets of
coalitions associated with the two major parties - the UNP and the SLFP,
and it provided the State with comparative political stability. This was
available within the legislature as well. In other words, the
multi-polity structure gave birth to a system of two coalitions of
parties, and discouraged the growth of mushroom political parties, with
regional and parochial agendas.
Today as a result of the introduction of the PR system, the whole
party process and the electoral process came to be submerged by a new
kind of electrolism that destroyed the foundations and traditions of
multi-party democracy. J.R. Jayawardene introduced a Constitution which
was tailor-made to his personal ambitions of political power. It was he
who introduced the PR form of representation with a view to keeping the
UNP in power forever, and that was the basis on which they constructed
the new electoral system which, in the end, inaugurated a period of
manipulative electoral politics.
The architects of the Constitution going on the basis of the previous
polling patterns in the country and the way the two major parties - the
UNP and SLFP shared the national votes in the country, were under the
illusion that through the PR system, the UNP could remain in power
forever. There were leading lawyers and academics who accepted this
thesis, whereas in my own writings, I refused to accept this thesis, and
always contended that the nature and functioning of the PR would undergo
the transformation of electoral dynamics in the country’s polity.
Exercising voter’s franchise. File photo |
Now, the past Provincial Council elections amply demonstrated that
UNP’s philosophy relating to the nature of the PR system has gone
overboard and fundamental electoral transformations are taking place.
The last election in the South reduced the UNP to the level of a minor
political party, and the gap between the Alliance and the UNP was such,
that UNP’s political base has been virtually eliminated, and the
impossible two - third has now been realized, because the electoral
dynamics did the required overturn. A new transformation has now begun.
Political parties which emerged with destructive regional and
parochial communal agendas have been thrown into the dustbin of history.
The very thesis of the UNP that more and more parties would emerge and
return to the national scene through the PR has been unfounded. That
thesis relating to multi parties has been demolished. This shows that
the time is right to change the electoral system in Sri Lanka and the
very signal has come from the people through the constantly changing
electoral dynamics in Sri Lanka.
The UNP, as a political party with a fairly strong traditional rural
base has declined due to the failure of its leadership to give a proper
direction to the party. Its leader is emulating the characteristics of a
European Party Leader whereas President Rajapaksa has been able to
successfully project his personality on the basis of the exclusive
characteristics of the Sri Lankan polity and the Sri Lankan political
culture.
This has been Rajapaksa’s strong point, and he has come to terms with
national political comments which got debilitated in the last 30 years
due to destructive terrorism which has now been defeated. The UNP, as
the main opposition party, is in steep decline due to internal conflicts
and the Alliance has emerged as the most powerful political force in the
country under an effective and astute leader, who has understood the
feelings and aspirations of a nation. |