A victory for democracy that Bangladesh can learn from
On September 21, the people of Sri Lanka delivered in no uncertain terms a stunning verdict in favour of democracy in the island country. Anura Kumara Dissanayake, a declared Marxist, left-leaning politician and the leader of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the English translation of which is "People's Liberation Front" won a clear mandate to govern, securing more than 55 percent of the votes, as against 44 percent for his closest rival Sajith Premadasa. Incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who succeeded the autocratic Gotabaya Rajapakse in 2022, secured only 17 percent of votes, effectively ending his long political career. Ranil Wickremesinghe congratulated Dissanayake on his win and said he was confident the new President would "steer Sri Lanka on a path of continued growth and stability."
With this decisive mandate, Dissanayake, who led the NPP coalition, defied all skeptics. This was the first presidential election since the ignominious departure of President Gottabaya Rajapaksa, and his clan in the face of massive public protest in 2022. In his immediate reaction to his victory, Dissanayake emphasised that the NPP will take responsibility for fulfilling the young generation's expectations for a social transformation of the country. He said, "The dream we have nurtured for centuries is finally coming true," adding that, "This victory belongs to all of us…Millions of eyes filled with hope and expectations push us forward, and together, we stand ready to rewrite Sri Lankan history." Unlike his rivals in the race, Ranil Wickremesinghe and Sajith Premadasa, son of assassinated President Ranasinghe Premadasa, the newly elected President does not possess political lineage but his message of working for the marginalised and signalling a departure from the culture of corruption and rampant nepotism, over the last two decades, resonated strongly with the masses, especially the youth.
The election, seen widely as a referendum on Wickremesinghe, who had inherited a heavily indebted nation's fragile economy from the meltdown in 2022 but his austerity measures hindered his bid to return to office. This election was also the first time in Sri Lanka's history where the outcome was decided by a second round of counting of the preferential votes after the two leading contenders failed to win the mandatory 50 percent of the votes to be declared a winner. The new president has been sworn in, following which the parliament was dissolved and parliamentary elections are to be held in November. Under Sri Lanka's current constitution, the powers of the president and the parliament are shared between the two, much like the French system.
It is important to look at the history and the rise of the JVP. That the timing of the emergence of the Sinhala ultra-nationalist JVP between 1987 and 1989 coincided with the violence perpetrated by LTTE in the north and the presence of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) on the island was not purely accidental. This extremist and violent Marxist-Leninist group had persuaded hardline Sinhala nationalists in the South to view the terroristic actions of the LTTE and the IPKF presence as an abdication of the country's sovereignty by an inept and a weak government. For a time Sri Lanka resembled a fractured mosaic: a violent Tamil separatist movement in the north and the east, a foreign army entrenched in its midst, an equally bloody and crippling Sinhala ultra-nationalist movement in the South and a seemingly hapless government in Colombo.
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The JVP uprising was eventually crushed by a ruthless military counter insurgency campaign but not before thousands–—by some estimates up to 70,000—of lives had been lost. Faced with an existential threat, the JVP changed its tact and chose to emerge as a mainstream conventional political party with a much watered down political philosophy. This politically refurbished JVP advocated constitutional politics over a violent one. It also put forward sound proposals for constitutional reforms. In the process, the party began to gain wide public support.
By the middle 2022, widespread public protests in Sri Lanka began to gain momentum over the failure of the Gotabaya government to control severe economic and financial problems, mainly the spiralling inflation, tumbling exchange rates of the local currency in the international market, severe shortage of food items and fuel supplies, coupled with rampant corruption and severe nepotism. Initially, Gotabaya tried to contain the protests through a series of stop gap measures like cabinet reshuffles but none of it could tame the unrest, which eventually turned into a one point demand for Rakapaksa's immediate resignation, the "Go Home Gota" slogan, resounding all over the island.
On the morning of July 13, 2022, Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled Sri Lanka for the Maldives on a Sri Lankan Air Force plane, and then onto Singapore, from where he issued a gazette stating that he is "unable to exercise, perform and discharge the powers, duties and functions of the Office of the President" by reason of his absence from Sri Lanka and that he appoints Ranil Wickremesinghe as acting president under Article 37 (1) of Sri Lanka's constitution. Gotabaya formally resigned a day later. On July 15, subsequently, Wickremesinghe was sworn in as the president to complete the remainder of Rajapaksa's term and this was formalised in a secret ballot in the parliament five days laters, where Wickremesinghe was formally elected as the ninth president of Sri Lanka.
The popular public uprising in Sri Lanka, its form and the timing, bears a striking resemblance to seismic political upheavals in Bangladesh in July and August in 2024. When news of the autocrat Gotabaya's escape, and that in a Sri Lankan Air Force plane, began to spread, the jubilant and angry mob forced themselves into the vacated official residence of the president in Colombo and in joyous celebrations, swam in the swimming pool, sat on the luxurious chair and even slept on the comfortable beds. For a few days, mob frenzy reigned in the city. But that's where the similarity with Bangladesh ends—for now.
Throughout the anti-Gotabaya movement, not a single bullet was fired on the protesters by the country's law enforcement agents even when police barricades were stormed, nor were there any helmeted armed Rajapaksa goons attacking and lynching the unarmed protesters. The civil servants and the military, who have traditionally been non-partisan, stayed away from the fray. The parliament was not dissolved, which enabled a constitutional transition of power.
Now that a new president has been elected and installed and fresh parliamentary polls will replace the now dissolved one, the new political dispensation faces a number of serious challenges, the first of which is reviving the persisting weak economy. The second task for Dissanayake is to reassure the minority Tamil population that his government is a truly inclusive one. Thirdly, he has to earn the trust of global political and financial stakeholders, both in the neighourbood and far, given his neo-marxist credentials. To these players in the region, he came into the elections as a third choice, after Ranil and Sajith. He has been to India before the elections and has also travelled to key western capitals to calm whatever fears they might have nourished. The neighbouring countries will, on their part, have to come to terms with the fact that he was the democratic choice of the majority of the Sri Lankan population, and play accordingly.
As a close friend and a fellow SAARC member, Bangladesh—where we currently seek a new democratic transition ourselves—should wish Anura Kumar Dissanayke and his team the best as Sri Lanka emerges on a fresh democratic journey.
Shamsher M. Chowdhury, Bir Bikram, is a former Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh and High Commissioner to Sri Lanka.
Views expressed in this article are the author's own.
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