When President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s National Peoples Power (NPP) coalition was contesting the parliamentary elections, most observers thought they would not be able to cross the magic number of 113 seats in the 225-member house. The NPP, however, swept the polls, winning 159 seats, pushing the traditional power clans and parties into irrelevance and raising hope for progressive economic growth in the country.
For years, Sri Lankan politics was dominated by a number of political stalwarts, their families and the parties they floated. The Marxist-Leninist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the leading party in the NPP coalition, is the first outsider group to capture power in the island nation. “People believed that we can transform Sri Lanka and bring development to the country and so they have chosen us. We will continue to work for the people,” said Anil Jayanta Fernando, who has been appointed minister for labour welfare.
What is perhaps all the more surprising is the NPP’s performance in the Tamil heartland of Jaffna and Vanni, in the Northern Province. In Jaffna, M.A. Sumanthiran, the leader of the Tamil Nationalist Alliance and a very popular face among the Tamils, was voted out. In the east, except for Batticaloa, the NPP made inroads into most constituencies. It won 12 of 28 seats in the north and the east dominated by Tamils and Muslims, marking the first time a coalition based in the south has won in the north and the east. In Nuwara Eliya, a stronghold of hill country Tamils, the NPP made impressive gains pushing traditional parties like the Ceylon Congress behind. The tenth parliament has 160 new faces; only 37 sitting MPs got re-elected. At least 100 new MPs are from the NPP.
Following the victory, Anura constituted a 21-member cabinet, retaining Harini Amarasuriya as prime minister. He has broken with tradition, choosing ministers with strong educational background. A few popular faces who strategised with Anura for the past five years have found a place in the new cabinet. “The victory has given us an opportunity to build and develop our country. It is an opportunity to build a united country shunning ethnic and racial differences,” said JVP general secretary Tilvin Silva.
While the JVP always had dedicated cadres and could fill its rallies with huge crowds, the party never managed to reach double figures in vote share. In the 2020 parliament elections, it aligned with other parties to form the NPP. Even then, the NPP could win only three seats with a vote share of 3.84 per cent, down from the six seats and the 4.87 per cent votes the JVP won on its own in 2015. Most Sri Lankans could not forget the two armed revolts led by the JVP in 1971 and 1987-89. Senior leaders like Silva, Sunil Handunnetti, Bimal Rathnayake and others were so upset that they wanted to go back to the old JVP style of functioning. But Anura stood his ground and urged his colleagues to work harder.
The Rajapaksas were very powerful back then, with Gotabaya as president and Mahinda as prime minister. Although Sajith Premadasa was the opposition leader, it was Anura who actually played that role. His speeches in parliament and the powerful rhetoric he used against the ruling party impressed the people much more than Sajith’s staid replies.
During the pandemic, when the Gotabaya government failed to formulate a reliable recovery plan, Anura and his team went to the grassroots and worked with ordinary people. The party and the coalition were restructured and their representatives started becoming popular in their respective divisional wards. The 2022 anti-government uprising was completely infiltrated by JVP activists. By 2023, when the local body polls were round the corner, president Ranil Wickremesinghe did not want the election. But the NPP filed a fundamental rights petition in the supreme court, seeking a free and fair election. Although the polls were put on hold as the government cited lack of funds, NPP’s activism further bolstered the popularity of the party.
By playing up the weakness of Sajith and Ranil and by making use of the popular opposition against the Rajapaksas, Anura gradually built up his support base. He ensured that his coalition steered clear of the ethnonationalist politics promoted by the Rajapaksas. Though Anura was initially looked at as a hardline Marxist, the sustained pro-people rhetoric transformed him into a grassroots leader.
After the twin election victories, Anura, Harini and the NPP have the opportunity to take Sri Lanka forward from the nightmares of the economic crisis and the tragedy of inept governance. But the challenges are multifold.
The top priority for the NPP is to address Sri Lanka’s critical debt situation. The government will have to work on extended deadlines and reduced interest rates which will allow economic reforms. It also needs to tackle the high cost of living, which is dependent on imports. The most important of all is the agricultural reform which Anura had promised during his campaign. The government has to spell out its plans to support farmers, enhance production and break the existing monopolies held by rice mill owners and a few businessmen. The government needs to support the seven million people who dropped below the poverty line because of the economic crisis.
The International Monetary Fund has cleared the third review of Sri Lanka’s $2.9 billion bailout package on November 23. It said it would release $333 million, bringing the total funding to $1.3 billion.
Apart from the support of international financial institutions, Anura is also banking on close ties with partners like India. He is likely to visit India this month. This will be his first foreign trip after taking over as president. Sources said the visit would focus on strengthening bilateral ties, attracting more investments and on winning support for his new policy decisions.