LG elections and leadership of local bodies

Our newly elected government has not been able to keep many of the promises they made pre-election

The local government elections have been held. The National People’s Power (NPP) emerged overall winners as predicted in these columns on polling day. As we forecast, the NPP victory was not as overwhelming as their victory during the parliamentary elections. Be that as it may -- the NPP won.

The NPP’s rivals Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), the United National Party (UNP), the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and the Sarvajana Balaya (SB) all contested independent of each other. They also condemned each other with vigour and vitality. They believed that they could independently, while crossing swords with each other and the president’s party, defeat the NPP/JVP combination which swept into power at the national level six to seven months earlier.

Why these political parties believed that the same people who had only recently rejected them would vote them into power again, remains a mystery. Surely these political entities could not have believed that in the space of six short months, the people would have forgotten the misdeeds they committed since independence.

Whether it be in the north, south, east or west of the country, the dream of these political outfits was not to be. The NPP/JVP emerged clear winners in 150 local bodies. Though having won most seats in a total of 266 local bodies, the numbers won by the NPP are not sufficient to form their own administration.

Our newly elected government has not been able to keep many of the promises they made pre-election. The best example being the NPP’s promise to renegotiate the terms of the IMF Extended Funding Facility. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) ultimately decides what the NPP government can and cannot do.

Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith and the Catholic community await with bated breath for the startling revelation promised by President Dissanayake regarding the Easter Sunday bombings. Fortunately the Cardinal is busy regarding the election of the new Pope, and not holding his breath till the president’s promise is fulfilled.

The cost of living continues to rise and ordinary people grumble. As far back as in 2015, the JVP called on then President Mahinda Rajapaksa to abolish the Executive presidency. So far Dissanayake has made no move to abolish this. The truth is the ordinary man in the street is not bothered whether a PM or president is in power. They are worried about the next meal and their children’s future.

Its time our politicians in the opposition benches give the public the respect they deserve. The ‘ordinary’ people in our country understand the cost of living cannot be brought down by government fiat. What they do realise is that if levels of corruption can be controlled in the here and now, prices of goods and services could be lowered.

During his seven months in power President Dissanayake has pushed his police department to crack down on corrupt officials, politicians and even ex-ministers. It is now becoming possible to get a few jobs done without being forced to pay out what was known as a ‘podi something ekkak’ (bribe). Government servants are afraid to demand a kick back for performing official duties.

This is probably why a majority of people again voted for the third force -the NPP- at the local government elections. The NPP too failed to live up to its pre-election pledges. The NPP leadership needs to realise that if they fail to keep election pledges, they too will be rejected at the next polls.

Our political parties in the Opposition need to recognise that their aggregate vote at the LG election brought them less votes than the NPP single-handedly received. The NPP received 43.26% to 39.42% (total vote of SJB, UNP, SLPP, SLMC and Jayaweera’s SB) for national level opposition parties.

The chest thumping claims of forming joint opposition-led local bodies in areas where the NPP failed to achieve an absolute majority, smacks of opportunism. It will do little to boost voter confidence in these political parties. Rather, let political parties in opposition shed corrupt and criminal elements in their ranks and, even at this late stage, show respect for the voting public’s judgement.