Professional Documents
Culture Documents
system-based rule
By Jehan Perera-August 18, 2015, 1:19 am
Elections in a
democratic polity provide an opportunity
to assess the mind of the people. They
are superior in gauging public opinion in
comparison to any opinion poll which is necessarily of a sample of society
only. During the last phase of the election campaign, there were reports of
opinion polls that showed a last minute surge for the opposition. This
countered previous surveys that showed a comfortable lead for the
government. These coexisted with still other surveys that claimed the
opposite. The choice of the electorate at this general election would
provide an invaluable insight into the priorities of the Sri Lankan voter,
especially whether they are moved more by emotion than by rationality.
This applies both in the North as well as the South.
In the North, the main issue is whether the voters will support Tamil
nationalism, and a confrontational posture against the government that is
elected, or an accommodation with the government. The northern Tamil
dominated electorate will have a choice of parties that are prepared to
work with the government as well as those that are more geared to opt for
confrontation and have the support of the separatist section of the Tamil
Diaspora. Emotion might dictate confrontation but rationality suggests
moderation, especially after the tragic experience of three decades of war.
An indication of the strengthening of the post-war ethos of reconciliation is
the entry into the electoral battle of rehabilitated LTTE cadre amongst
whom the best known is a former bodyguard of the slain LTTE leader.
In the rest of the country, the main line of contestation is between the
personality-based politics of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa who has
headed the opposition campaign on the one hand, and the good
governance promise of those who governed the country for the past seven
months on the other. A positive feature of the new order is the conduct of
the elections by the election authorities. Unlike the presidential elections
which took place under the former presidents government, there has been