An Election Dilemma In Sri Lanka

Progressives are united against having a Rajapaksa as President but divided over Premadasa’s abilities

- Meera Srinivasan

In less than a month, over 15 million voters in Sri Lanka will have a say in the country’s presidential election.

A total of 35 candidates are in the fray, but the principal contest is between Gotabaya Rajapaksa of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) and Sajith Premadasa of the United National Party (UNP). Two other prominent candidates — the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna ( JVP)’s Anura Kumara Dissanayake and civil society group-backed former Army commander General Mahesh Senanayake — are pitching themselves as an alternative to the mainstream parties.

As the final countdown begins, progressives in Sri Lanka are sharply divided. Though bound by a resolve to “stop a Gota [as Gotabaya is popularly known here] presidency”, they are unable to agree on ‘how’ they might oppose him. Mr. Gotabaya, 70, is a war-time Defence Secretary and younger brother of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. In much of the island’s Sinhala-Buddhist south, the brothers invoke an aura of “war victors” who “saved the country” from the separatist LTTE. In Mr. Gotabaya’s now-significantly large support base, which includes professionals and businessmen, he is also seen as an efficient administrator, and a “non-politician” promising to deliver.

However, the Rajapaksa brand doesn’t draw all Sri Lankans. To a substantial population, particularly Tamils, Muslims and his Sinhalese critics, Mr. Gotabaya’s candidacy portends a reversal to an era known for its authoritarian slant and diminished freedoms. Mired in accusations of killings and enforced disappearances during the war and soon after — which Mr. Gotabaya has squarely denied — the Rajapaksa decade in power, from 2005 to 2015, was marked by brutal state repression an unmistakable intolerance to dissent.