Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s coalition won yesterday’s parliamentary elections in a landslide, with the National People’s Power alliance winning 159 of 225 seats in the legislature, a two-thirds majority. Dissanyake called the snap elections after winning the country’s presidential election and taking office in September. (New York Times)
The presidential and parliamentary elections in Sri Lanka in many ways represent the culmination of the revolution that began with the popular uprising known as the Aragalaya in July 2022. Coming in the depths of a severe economic crisis that saw Sri Lanka default on its sovereign debt, the Aragalaya drove then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa from power. But at the time, it did not lead to substantive political change: Rajapaksa was replaced by another establishment figure, and Sri Lanka’s political elites were then put in charge of fixing the crisis they had created.
In fairness, Sri Lanka’s government did successfully negotiate an IMF bailout program that has stabilized the country’s economy. But the program has come with strict austerity measures that, combined with lingering anger over the economic crisis, vaulted Dissanayake to power. Over the past two years, Dissanayake has presented himself and the NPP as agents of change to capitalize on the groundswell of anger. And their years on the fringes of Sri Lankan politics ended up being an advantage, as their outsider status left them untarnished by the political establishment’s failure.
That messaging clearly paid off, first in September with Dissanayake’s victory and now with the parliamentary landslide. The NPP even won in ethnic Tamil strongholds in Sri Lanka’s north, signaling a major electoral shift that goes beyond the clear popular disavowal of the country’s corrupt political elites.
The outcome of yesterday’s voting not only validates Dissanayake’s decision to call snap parliamentary elections—given that his coalition only held three seats previously, it wasn’t a huge gamble—but also hands him a commanding majority to implement his leftist agenda. That is likely to include anti-corruption reforms, increased spending on social welfare and potentially even a new constitution, which he can pass without the need for opposition votes.
The big question is whether Dissanayake’s reform agenda will complicate Sri Lanka’s economic recovery. He has backtracked on his calls during the presidential election campaign to renegotiate the country’s IMF bailout program, but his welfare spending and tax reforms could still throw a wrench in the austerity measures that made the bailout possible. It could very well end up that the political revolution Sri Lankans wanted and have now gotten could complicate the economic revival the country needs.
For more: Read about Dissanayake’s rise in Shakthi De Silva’s presidential election preview from September.
