Wanted, a serious Opposition

Press conference to announce the joint Opposition rally

Efforts to form an alliance between the UNP and the SJB or among all main Opposition parties are being made without any policy basis. It is the craving for power that has been the driving force for these alliances

Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Kristalina Georgieva last week said that Sri Lanka now has a government that people trust, and the country’s recovery is being powered by that trust which is a rare and valuable asset. 

On the other hand, after ten years of negative performance, Sri Lanka recently had risen from 121st place to 107th place, a 14-place climb, on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index for 2025. These are invaluable international acclaims that the National People’s Power Government has won in the recent weeks.  

Meanwhile, a month ago, on February 15 the Colombo-based thinktank Verité Research announced that the approval rating of the Government polled at 65% in early-February 2026, in the latest round of the Gallup style ‘Mood of the Nation’ poll conducted by it. 

Unlike the first two, the Verité Research poll results did not seem to have accepted by many in the country. Even the leaders of the Government did not seem to want to speak about it during public meetings or press briefings. 

The IMF Managing Director’s remark and the Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index were not challenged even by the vicious critics of the Government. It is against this backdrop that the leaders of several Opposition parties, sans the main Opposition, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), had gathered on Wednesday in Colombo to discuss a common political programme against the Government. 

Although the SJB was not a party to the meeting, one of its allies, Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA) led by Mano Ganesan had participated. SJB Parliamentarian Dayasiri Jayasekara who is also laying claims to the Sri Lanka Freedom Party’s General Secretary Post was also one of the participants. 

It must be recalled that the same political parties had launched a new joint opposition alliance, ‘Maha Jana Handa’ (Voice of the People), on October 27 to protest the Government’s “undemocratic actions, misgovernance, and corruption.” The alliance held its public meeting on November 21 at Nugegoda and it was looked to be a meeting to boost the image of Namal Rajapaksa, the National Organiser of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP). 

It was announced at the meeting that a series of such meetings would be held across the country in the coming months. However, it turned out to be the first and the last meeting of the alliance and nothing was heard about the alliance itself thereafter. The SJB was conspicuously missing from the event as well while Dayasiri Jayasekara was seen at the venue. 

The interest of the Opposition parties in coalition politics was first actuated from the results of the last Presidential Election where the two main Opposition parties, the SJB and the UNP collectively outshined NPP’s Anura Kumara Dissanayake. Hence, pressure was thrust upon the leaders of both parties by their respective rank and file to jointly face the Parliamentary Election. However, leadership rivalry based mainly on ego prevented it, giving more edge to the NPP which ensured the latter a two thirds majority. 

Then, again the pressure mounted on the leaders of the two parties in May last year when the local government elections were approaching, but to no avail, for the same reason. Yet, they along with the SLPP managed to prevent the NPP from capturing power in some local councils after the elections.  The two parties have held negotiations to arrive at an agreement on a coalition in January, February, May and December last year and in February this year, all of which ended without conclusion.

The bone of contention is no doubt the leadership of the proposed alliance on which both Wickremesinghe and SJB leader Sajith Premadasa have strong claims. Wickremesinghe who has been the Prime Minister five times is also a former President of the country, though not elected by the people while Premadasa has the majority support even if the vote banks of both parties taken together. 

Efforts to form an alliance between the UNP and the SJB or among all main Opposition parties are being made without any policy basis. It is the craving for power that has been the driving force for these alliances. And those efforts lack consistency and the parties are being pushed to the negotiating table by circumstances. Following the arrest of Wickremesinghe in August last year over the allegation of misusing state funds for a visit during his Presidency to Wolverhampton University in England where his wife was awarded an honorary professorship, Opposition parties wanted collective action against the Government. But they failed to muster enough support. 

A month later, in September last year, the Government passed the Presidents’ Entitlement (Repeal) Bill resulting in three former Presidents who had been occupying state bungalows being evacuated. It was said that before the Bill was passed all five former Presidents would fight against it through a legal action. Yet, no action was filed. 

With the conclusion of the ‘Maha Jana Handa’ rally in Nugegoda in October last year, Wickemesinghe announced that one thousand protest rallies and demonstrations would be held against the government, but not even one rally was held. 

Inconsistency in Opposition activities are always being coupled with their inability to challenge the Government based on policies and principles, rather they always make a big fuss about trivial matters or contradict their own positions.  They launched a protest across the country demanding the withdrawal of the Government’s education reforms in late last year. When the Government decided to postpone the modules for Year 6, with the mounting pressure, they made an about turn claiming that they are not opposed to the reforms. 

Yet, again the Opposition wanted to bring a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya who is also the Education Minister over the same reforms. However, it never saw the light of the day. Similarly, they have conveniently forgotten the lawsuit that they threaten to file against the government leaders for ‘manslaughter’ during the cyclone Ditwah. The puerility of the Opposition parties was further manifested during the aftermath of the sinking of an Iranian ship by the US Navy within Sri Lanka’s Exclusive Economic Zone last week. 

Government has failed so far to keep its promises such as the ones on provincial council elections, scrapping of the Prevention of Terrorism Act, introducing a new Constitution without the executive Presidency. Yet, the Opposition is content just with embarrassing the Government or making fun of the leaders of the Government, rather than fighting for policy issues that would make a difference in the country.