SRI LANKA: Snap election ploy may not work so well for Percy Rajapaksa

(Oh, dear... I forgot all about that time: do you think the dullness rubbed off?)

Sirisena's biggest asset is the anti-incumbency factor being faced by two-term President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Allegations of corruption, family rule by the Rajapaksa clan, misgovernance, the muzzling of the judiciary, police and the media - these are the key issues on the minds of the people as they decide on who their next president will be.

"The opposition candidate will win very comfortably, it is not a tough fight," said noted political journalist Victor Ivan in Colombo. "From this election, you can see we are living in a changing society. This will not be a victory of Maithripala, but a victory of our society. The people have a deep understanding of what went wrong from 1948 to now. They want a lot of reforms and it is time for change," he said.

The deck is stacked against incumbent Rajapaksa. Public outcry followed the passing of the 18th Amendment which broke the independent judiciary, police commissions and human rights commissions. 

(NewKerala)

The team of international election monitors, which met with the representatives of several political parties in Colombo today, told media that they have received complaints of misuse of official machinery by the government and using military to discourage Tamil voters in the North from exercising their franchise freely.

Dr. S Y Quraishi, the head of the observer group of Association of Asian Election Authorities (AAEA) said they have received complaints of misuse of state media during poll campaign and that the military had set up 400 roadblocks in the former war torn areas to intimidate Tamil voters.

However, Dr. Quraishi said the police have assured them that they will guarantee that the election is free and fair and they have confidence in the Election Commissioner.

(Colombo Page)

But while things are going well at the moment, the president might well have been wise to go to the polls sooner rather than later. While the near-to-medium term outlook for the economy appears healthy, the long term prognosis for sustained high growth is not as good. Sri Lanka’s economic growth so far has relied heavily on infrastructure development financed by overseas borrowing. With high levels of external indebtedness, modest export earnings growth and limited private investor appetite to expand production capacity, it is clear that what the economy needs most are productivity-enhancing reforms. 

In the run up to elections, neither the government nor the opposition appear to be paying much attention to the kind of economic reforms that would help Sri Lanka reallocate factors of production to more productive areas of the economy. The government is promising to push ahead with its ambitious infrastructure development initiatives, while the opposition is pledging to reduce the cost of living and promising sizeable handouts, including public sector wage increases.

(East Asia Forum)




And yes, you will read more about this here after the 8th! - Ed.