The Return Of Rajapaksa

Sri Lanka’s former president stages a stunning comeback with a win in local government elections. The disarray in the Sirisena government makes him a frontrunner for the 2020 general elections

- Chandani Kirinde

Among rural Sinhalas, the belief that former president Mahinda Rajapaksa was cheated out of a victory in the last presidential election held in January 2015 resonates strongly. Many even believe that Rajapaksa’s defeat was a conspiracy hatched by the western powers. Apparently, these voters were largely responsible for the victory of the political party backed by Rajapaksa in the local government poll held on February 10. The poll result has in a way put him back in the driving seat and plunged the coalition that ousted him from office into disarray.

Rajapaksa’s party won nearly 45 percent of the total votes cast while the United National Party (UNP) of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, the single largest party in parliament, came second, polling around 33 percent of the votes. The showing by the two parties backed by President Maithripala Sirisena was dismal. He managed to win less than 15 percent of the vote.

While losing a local council election does not result in the downfall of a government, many see it as a referendum on the popularity of the ruling coalition put together by Sirisena and Wickremesinghe after they ousted Rajapaksa. The electoral setback plunged the already faltering alliance into turmoil with immediate calls for Wickremesinghe’s resignation and a snap parliamentary election.

As most political analysts have pointed out in the aftermath of the polls, containing Rajapaksa has proven to be a tough challenge for Sirisena-Wickremesinghe. “His political opponents were not in the same weight class as this Muhammad Ali of politics,” wrote political analyst Dayan Jayatilleka.

While his views are usually pro-Rajapaksa, this poll result signals the return of the former president under whose tenure the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam were militarily defeated.