Sri Lanka - 2020 General Election
On 19 March 2020 Sri Lanka’s Elections Commission Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya announced that the parliamentary elections which were scheduled to be held on April 25 would be postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak. A fresh date for the elections would be notified only after the outbreak is brought under control, he added. Election chief Mahinda Deshapriya said “Whether we can have the vote in May, June or July will depend on how quickly the virus can be tackled.”
In the Parliament 225 members are elected by open list proportional representation in multi-member constituencies to serve 5-year terms. Parties must clear a threshold of one-eighth of votes to win seats in the respective constituency. Each voter may cast three preference votes. There are 22 multi-member constituencies containing 196 seats and one nationwide constituency with 29 seats.
On 03 December 2018 Sri Lanka's Supreme Court ruled President Maithripala Sirisena's decision to dissolve parliament and hold snap elections was unconstitutional, dealing a major blow to the embattled leader in his feud with a deposed prime minister. A seven-judge bench unanimously ruled that Sirisena cannot sack the 225-member House before four-and-a-half years have passed since its election. The much-anticipated ruling came seven weeks into a political crisis, which began on October 26 when Sirisena fired Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and replaced him with Mahinda Rajapaksa, a controversial former president. Rajapaksa, however, could not muster a majority in parliament, and Sirisena on November 9 dissolved the legislature two years ahead of schedule. The Supreme Court, responding to a court complaint against the moves, issued an interim ruling suspending Sirisena's decree and restoring parliament, which went on to pass two no-confidence motions against Rajapaksa.
The new President of Sri Lanka, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, had aimed at getting two-thirds majority in the April 2020 parliamentary elections to be able to bring about sweeping changes in the constitution to strengthen the Executive which was badly crippled by the 19th Amendment (19A) brought about by the previous government. The 19A, enacted in 2015 by the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government, had clipped the Executive President's powers without commensurately increasing the powers of the Prime Minister and the parliament. The spheres or competences of the two centers of power over-lapped in many places causing confusion and conflict. By early 2020 President Gotabaya Rajapaksa himself favored having the elections as scheduled and getting a supportive parliament elected in place the dissolved one in which the opposition had the majority. It was reported that many members of the Rajapaksas’ Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) were themselves of the view that the voters might turn against them if elections are held as scheduled.
But the opposition and the general opinion in the country appeared to be in favor of postponement of the polls due to the public health issue created by the epidemic. People were coming round to accepting the opposition’s view that government places gaining power over protecting peoples’ lives. The United National Party (UNP) was divided and the division could not be undone. This was because the UNP and the rebel group the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) had filed nominations as separate units. With that any chances of uniting have evaporated.
Sri Lankans voted on 05 August 2020 to elect a new parliament, wearing masks and adhering to strict social distancing guidelines at polling stations across the country, in an election President Gotabaya Rajapaksa hopes will boost his powers. More than 16 million people are eligible to vote in the island nation, whose economy is heavily dependent on tourism and has struggled deeply since deadly attacks on hotels and churches last year killed more than 260 people.
This year, strict curfews and lockdowns in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic have further slowed economic growth, with the World Bank estimating the country's GDP could contract by as much as 3 percent in 2020.
Mahinda Rajapaksa's Sri Lanka People’s Front won 145 seats in the 225-member parliament, securing nearly the two-thirds majority required to make constitutional changes that could strengthen dynastic rule in the country. Its main opponent obtained only 54 seats. A party representing ethnic minority Tamils won 10 seats, and 16 others were split among 12 small parties.
Sri Lanka’s former President Mahinda Rajapaksa has sworn in as the prime minister for the fourth time after his party secured a landslide victory in parliamentary elections that cemented his family's hold on power. Rajapaksa took oath on 09 August 2020 before his younger brother, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, at a prominent Buddhist temple on the outskirts of the capital Colombo.
This time, five members of the Rajapaksa family have been elected as lawmakers — Rajapaksa, his son Namal, the eldest brother Chamal and his son Sashindra, and a nephew, Nipuna Ranawaka. The brothers need 150 seats to be able to change the constitution. At least four small parties collaborate with the Rajapaksas’ party, so they appear to have mustered that support.
The president wanted to change the constitution to take back the power to the presidency. In this situation either the elder brother must step aside and cede power to the younger brother, or the younger man must take a step back and allow the older brother to exercise power. Mahinda Rajapaksa is unlikely to cede any of his powers that might shrink his influence as he works on promoting his son Namal as heir. Sri Lanka had been ruled by powerful executive presidents since 1978. But a 2015 constitutional amendment strengthened Parliament and the prime minister and put independent commissions in charge of judiciary appointments, police, public services and the conduct of elections.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
