Colombo: Rising above ethnic, language and religious differences, Sri Lankan voters swept the National People’s Power alliance to a landslide victory, giving the NPP of president Anura Kumara Dissanayake a total of 141 seats out of a possible 225 on Friday (November 15), the country’s Election Commission said.
The NPP expected to obtain a two-third majority. A total of 196 seats were decided by direct election in the country’s proportional representation system with the remaining 26 members to Parliament being selected by eligible parties through a national list. With the NPP expected to gain 18 out of the 26 national list seats, their tally is expected to go upto 159 seats.
The NPP demolished the hold of ethnic Tamil and Muslim parties in the country’s North and the East – including the Jaffna peninsula – once the centre of a 26-year-long insurgency led by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Given that the NPP had just three seats in the previous Parliament, a likely two-thirds majority being projected for the alliance is nothing short of a political tsunami – something that the NPP itself may not have expected.
Many observers link the results to the unprecedented economic hardships being faced by ordinary Sri Lankans during and after the economic crisis of 2022 and the Aragalya, or the people’s struggle that followed.
Veteran Jaffna-based political activist Sooriasegaram told this writer as the election results poured in, “Race and religion did not come into the equation – not even in a minor way.” People who were unable to make ends meet had voted as Sri Lankans and placed their trust in a national party to improve their circumstances, Sooriasegaram added.
Established political formations like the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (United People’s Power) of Sajith Premadasa and the New Democratic Front led by former President Ranil Wickremesinghe were rejected by the people. The SJB with 35 seats was a distant second and the NDF had managed just three seats so far.
“Since my childhood, every election map has highlighted a divided country, with clear regional splits in the results. For the first time, I’m seeing a truly unified Sri Lanka across the map. No more divide and rule,” Zahran Careem, a photographer, wrote on X.
The massive parliamentary mandate for the Janata Vimukthi Peramuna (People’s Liberation Front)-led NPP by voters cutting across ethnic and religious divides puts enormous pressure on President Dissanayake to deliver on his promises.
Amit Baruah is an independent journalist and former Sri Lanka correspondent of The Hindu.