Sri Lanka went for yet another phase of elections, this time for 65 local government bodies on July 23. Elections, national and local, have become a regular aspect of the Sri Lankan politics, despite the conventional wisdom that the country is steadily losing its democratic characteristic. The next phase of elections for the rest of the local governance bodies will be held before the end of this year according to the government sources.
The government won all of the local authorities in the predominantly Sinhala South. This was in a way a surprise, because many people including some of the hardcore supporters of the regime believed that the popularity of the government was on the wane. Needless to say that the appeal of the government, especially the President, shot up with the defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May 2009. Taking advantage of the public euphoria created by the war victory the government won the presidential election and the parliamentary election in January and April 2010 respectively. Confident of the popular support, the government, in order to keep the momentum going, phased out the local government elections rather than having them on one day. The strategy seems to be working.
It is however, clear that the endorsement the government enjoyed in the aftermath of the war victory is eroding. Serious criticisms have been leveled in the recent past. Corruption, inefficiency and politicization of public institution are some of the major accusations. Corruption seems to be pervasive throughout the public and political sphere. For instance, just before the election, low quality petrol was supplied to the market leading to the breakdown of more than 5000 vehicles due to the “deals” made by the officials of the petroleum corporation. Although the issue created a national outcry against the government, nobody was punished. Some of the officials were simply transferred to other departments. Observers claim that several privatization projects undertaken by the government and land sales are corrupt. Large plots of prime land have been sold to foreign companies, especially Chinese bodies outside of the normal tender procedures. Corruption charges culminated with the report that the President and his son Namal Rajapaksa, a Member of Parliament were granted millions of dollars by the Chinese government to be used “at their discretion.” Of course the government called it an outrageous lie.
The hedging deal concluded by the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation with international banks, including the City Bank to cushion the rising oil prices back-fired as the prices began to fall after the conclusion of the agreement. Currently the government is fighting a legal battle to avoid payments to the banks.
Former Captain of the Sri Lankan cricket team Kumar Sangakkara in a recent speech claimed that Sri Lanka Cricket currently is corrupt and full of cronies. This may be true for many other institutions as well. For the first time since the end of the war, the government has also faced some serious setbacks over the last few months. For example, garment sector employees came out in numbers, rather violently, against the proposed Private Sector Pension Bill and forced the government to withdraw the scheme. The cost of living has emerged as one of the most serious problems for the government as inflation is skyrocketing. Opposition parties see the problem as a consequence of inefficiency and mismanagement of the economy. The general public, including the sympathizers of the regime, seem to moan in silence. Cracks, although not serious in nature, are also appearing within the ruling coalition. The Jathika Hela Urumaya, a party of Sinhala Buddhist monks, has come out strongly and protesting against what it calls an unacceptably high level of arsenic in rice. The government disagrees.
These issues, not without reason, created the perception that the war victory euphoria is slowly evaporating and the government’s standing among the voters is fading. It is imperative to note that the problems however have not translated into protest votes against the government. This is exactly why the government scored the unexpected landslide victory. One can argue that contemporary political issues faced by the Sri Lankan community are not strong enough to break the sentiments created by the war victory. The opposition parties, especially the United National Party is weak, disorganized and divided, which worked in favor of the government. The Sinhala voters obviously do not see the UNP as nationalistic enough and as an alternative to the government in power. Therefore the chances are that the government will ride in the wave of war victory for some time to come. 
Dr S. I. Keethaponcalan is Chair of the Department of Conflict Analysis and Dispute Resolution, Fulton School of Liberal Arts, Salisbury University, Maryland, USA.
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