What went wrong in Sri Lankan presidential election since the beginning.

Recall to the history and current background

Sri Lanka was first governed by prime minister D. S. Senannayke, who was the first prime minister to become president after the independence of 1947. He was the founder of the United Nations. Until 1956, the UNP government was there. Later, S W R D Bandarnayke split out of his (previous party) UNP and found the new party called SLFP in 1951. Until that, Sri Lanka had two parties, UNP and LSSP (basically, it was right-wing and left-wing). After Bandaranayke, there was another right-wing party, but with some left adaptations to the Sri Lankan politics, it was more like a central approach. Then, after 1956, SLFP defeated UNP and came to power, then back and forth, those are the parties that presided over Sri Lanka for almost 60 years of time span.

The first presidential election was held in 1982 between the major candidates, J. R. Jyawardane and Hector Kobbakaduwa. Where J R wins, J R represents the United National Party (UNP); since then, more than a decade, the UNP government has been there. until 1994, when Chandrika Kumarathunga went against Gamini Dissanaayke (Srima Dissanayake), but a few days before the election, Gamini died in a bomb attack. Either way, Chandrika managed to grab over 60% of votes and become Sri Lanka's first female president; then, for nearly 20 years, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) government managed the country. 

*spouse of Gamini Dissanayke

The 9th presidential election in Sri Lanka will take place in a few days. This is particularly noteworthy because Sri Lanka has the weakest economy in the region. There won't be any positive fallout for the winner. Indeed, nations are presently unable to compete in their region, which is bad news for middle-class families—though even those in positions of power are dissatisfied with the state of affairs. As a consequence, emerged a tendency for a large number of those who could afford to leave the country to leave right away.

Time Line

A few events occurred throughout Sri Lanka's elections, and with time, political characteristics and the meaning of politics evolved. in between. There were now between 10 and 15 president candidates current, besides more than 30 political organizations.

Below mentioned major incidents happen in Sri Lankan politics till date.

• Sri Lanka Independent, (1948)
• UNP wins first election (1947) 
• SLFP Created: (1951)
• UNP loses to the right-wing party, (1956)
• Bandaranayke (founder of SLFP) was shot and killed in (1959.)
• JVP left-wing party founded in (1965)
• Stripped Sirimavo bandranayke* Personal right by government and banned for 7 years (UNP) - (1980)
• Black July (1983)
• LTTE emerged against the government as rebels in (1983.)
• Wijeyweera led the revolt against the government from 1987 to 1988 (founder of JVP).
• Vijaya Kumarathunga** assassination (1988) 
• Wijeyweera Kumarthunga assassination, (1989)
• Interim President, (1993)
• First Female President in Sri Lanka, (1994)
• LTTE Crumpled, (2009)
• SLFP dominance was over in (2015.)
• UNP dominance was over in (2019.)

 

• *Spouse of S W R D Bandaranayke
• ** Spouse of Chandrika Kumarathunga, a famous actor at the time

 

                              

A few other events happened at this time, including the assassinations of Chandrika and Gamini Dissanayke. Following Wijeyweera's death, the left wing basically disappeared.
Yet they are a third party that can't be challenged against the UNP or SLFP in any kind of political endeavour. until few years back.

South Asian comparison in 19s to onwards

Following independence, D.S. Senannayake found it simple to gain the support of the right because the left wing had no influence or impact. 1947 saw the first election; however, there were fewer votes cast. The most influential individuals at that time were typically recognized from well-established families. People choose to vote for those in power or for the benefits they receive as a result. Give and take, basically. The political parties' agendas are never clear to the general public. As an instance, an ordinary voter at that time had no social standing. either from establishing a family dynasty or from serving for the government. This story, for instance, was comparable to those in other South Asian nations at the time.

Following independence, the Gandhi and Nehru families ruled over India. The circumstances were remarkably alike. For instance, left-wing parties were unable to seize power in either nation. In Southeast Asia, the left wing nearly perished.

There may be alternate choices and limitations in other places, but here we are still left with few options and more limitations. during the previous 20–30 years.

 

It's because we remain behind other nations that formed after British independence after contending for a while. Among them is Singapore.

 
In contrast to other nations in the area, Sri Lankan politics followed a distinct path once limitations changed. There were moments when I thought Sri Lanka suffered more than others as a result of constitutional reforms. For instance, other powerful nations like Bangladesh, India,

 

In India, the prime minister continues to be the head of state. Compared to Sri Lanka's, their election system sounds to be more democratic. As everyone is aware, the prime minister of Bangladesh faced insurrection. exactly as the president of Sri Lanka faced 2022

 As a region, we lack political ideology, which makes it quite evident that our political decision-making is unstable when compared to that of the West. Through their parties, they only serve as political ideology's representatives; this is not limited to Bangladesh; the Modi administration is also negatively impacted by the BJP's recent election victory in India, which came after the government rebuilt the Ram Mandir in Ayodha and lost the seat to the local party in the area.

 This demonstrates how the 19th-century western influence persisted: those in positions of power do not voluntarily alter a constitution to better suit their nation. Countries suffer from serious political fallacies for this reason. Simply put, political party ideas appear to be quite funny when divided. Shaikh Hassina, for instance, is doing favours for families in Bangladesh that help with attaining independence; up until recently, the opposition just opposed this.

.There are modi in India who embrace Hinduism, adapt it to the commonplace, and voluntarily adopt it as their party's doctrine. primarily Hindu votes in the election. agenda that they established. The humorous aspect was that he used the same tone as he spoke to other minorities.

 This propaganda is effective everywhere. The basic scene is to proceed in the reverse path, simply anti-modi.

 Any nation with a strong oppositional government will devise a plot to overthrow it and manage to pull it off. This took place in numerous Gulf nations. It also functions quite effectively for others.

Presidential election 2024

After Gotabaya departs the country in 2022, Sri Lanka will experience a catastrophic economic collapse. In this, the IMF will also be involved. After that, Sri Lanka needs to heed the guidance given by financial institutions. Any leadership must do this, regardless of whether it requires changing the fiscal strategy.

The incoming administration is required to abide by the rules. If such is the case, then each administration that becomes office ought to face a number of consequences due to the claims stated throughout the campaign.

 These days, many come here expecting rapid results. That's what people from the West typically do. Because of how far society has come in the past few decades, we frequently don't anticipate an equal level of cooperation out of the government. While many are reachable, many were unsustainable in the lack of sound fiscal policy.

 A few events occurred during Sri Lanka's elections, and with time, political characteristics and the meaning of politics evolved. in in between.

In the upcoming election, there were no major parties who were there before, but the same persons and ideologies were there. For example,

Ranil Wickramsinghe, the current president of Sri Lanka, is still running for office. He is a long-time party leader of the UNP. He joined this election with few alliances, so he did not come under the UNP banner.

JVP also does not come under the same name (NPP). the strip it years ago, and now they come like for the central party being than the left. Also, the leadership has remained the same for 10 years.

Also, former president Mahinda Rajapakshe's son also ran his campaign under his father and uncle's created party. (SLPP),

Former president R. Premadasa's son, Sajith Premadasa, also came from a newly formed party and himself ran for the 2019 election (SJB). 

These are the major candidates for this election. Above them all in the political scene for years, there have been no new faces, even Namal Rajapakshe, who was also a parliament minister before.

There are some new names as well: Sri Lankan well-established media house owner Dilith Jayaweera is there, and former president candidate 2010 Sarath Fonseka

 

If we talked major 4 candidates

 The current president, Ranil Wickramasinghe, feels that he is mostly responsible for Sri Lanka's current state following the economic crisis of 2022. where he has some room for pride. However, the majority of the credit for resolving this issue with international economic constitutions rests with the central banks and diplomatic representatives. and he believes that by 2048–2050, the nation will be back on course. This kind of statement is nonsensical at times. Any wound can heal with time. All you have to do is ensure that the therapy is continuing. He adopts a more non-interventionist stance in this election. This election shall be the same if he wins; a passive strategy is required. Pros and cons exist; which one you choose to take is up to you. more like the low-risk, low-reward approach I see in him.

Anura Kumara of the NPP was formerly known as the JVP before changing their name a few years ago. They have never been the front-runner before; following multiple failed attempts at running for government by the two main parties, it looks like they can gain more votes this time around, or perhaps he will be the next president. He is getting closer to more central vision now. However, I believe that the requirement that people maintain trust in their system is absent. He assures people that he would improve the nation's situation. Although it takes a lot more to achieve, the challenge was not impossible. He should either take an aggressive or more defensive stance when addressing the public, but the issue is that there are different advantages and disadvantages to each strategy—we're still not sure which to choose. how he ended up becoming president. since he will be taking government for the first time without the backing of a significant minister. In the parliament, which has 225 members overall, he has fewer than ten. In my opinion, he seems less diplomatic than others, even if some have been in the field for a longer period of time. Before the election, Namal Rajapakshe had become a minister. One important factor influencing your presidential campaign is your level of diplomacy. We all know he never gets a chance to showcase the skill, but I saw through years in parliament as a party leader that he never made a decision that affected more, which is why they were never able to come in with more than 3% of the vote count. 

Although they are from different political parties, Sajith Premadasa and Namal Rajapashska are both the sons of past presidents. Their fathers, Namal (Mahinda Rajapahkes, SLFP) and Sajith (Ranasinghe Premadasa, UNP), create an image for themselves that they then follow through on. The strategy remained the same, with only a few levels changing. Because Namal's grandfather is an influential politician at that moment, the Namal case was a little bit different. They are now classified under separate party tags. Both praised their father's accomplishments and disparaged rivals.

In contrast to Sajith's more assertive strategy, he made his public statements at every campaign stop. However, Namal's strategy seemed more sensible; it appeared that he was just showing that he would not support the existing administration or anything of that sort; otherwise, I couldn't figure out why he emerged as an independent candidate. They both seem to be talking to the same people as they did 10 years ago, in my opinion. The passage period is the only difference.

What went wrong

As previously said, because they consistently support the candidates who come up first, voters are unable to comprehend the political parties' platforms. and they have faith in them. Who steps in sometimes to give people the impression that this guy would make an acceptable politician? Politicians act in a way that enables them to enter parliament or hold that authority because they are aware of this. Though we are unable to fully comprehend the person, we are aware that it is difficult. However, we can all comprehend each other's ideologies when they speak; therefore, as voters, we ought to challenge the candidates. Even their ideologies should be up for debate; hence, debates must take place.

be willing to call each other out on our errors; never attempt to politically correct someone; this is all performed up until the point at which power is gained; they simply try to keep the people from going on with their own actions. Politics in South Asia is peculiar; we never really adjust to this. as far as I can recall. We are only here because the British gave it to us; if we don't make this adjustment, after another ten years nothing will have changed.

 

Below are the main political concepts and exist major political ideologies in case. 

Political concepts exist.

• Democracy
• Authoritarianism
• Totalitarian
• Monarchy
• Hybrid

 

Main political ideologies exist. 

• Anarchism
• Communism
• Conservatism
• Environmentalism
• Fascism
• Feminism
• Liberalism
• Socialism
• Nationalism
• Populism (democracy)
• Religious- politics
• Corporatism
• Progressivism
• Satirical

Also, there are a few more hybrid versions there.

Conclusion

This election will be a little bit different from the others, in my opinion. A requirement in the Sri Lankan Constitution was that a candidate for president must receive 50% more votes. At this point, it will be uncertain if any of them can reach the 50% threshold. because it's confusing that after voting for the candidate who best represents them, people now believe that you need a political philosophy that supports both you and your nation. It is regrettable that voters nowadays are incapable of thinking along these lines. because voters consistently perceive winners as failing them.

Links -  https://www.linkedin.com/in/chathura-kularathne-408673137/

Source - Google.

Photographs - Google