Sri Lanka: Rajapaksa hope to further tighten his grip with outright win

The upcoming parliamentary elections in Sri Lanka can help President Gotabaya Rajapaksa further tighten his grip over the government with an outright victory. Rajapaksa elder brother and former President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, is currently serving as caretaker Prime Minister and an election win will boost his position into a formal one. The elections will be held on August 5 and the counting is scheduled for August 6.

The Sri Lankan Parliament consists of 225 lawmakers who are elected through the proportional representation system for five-year terms. UNP leader and former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will contest from Colombo, which is one of the 22 multi-member electoral districts of Sri Lanka. Colombo sends 19 out the 225 legislators to the Parliament.

The United National Front (UNF), the current opposition, has the most number of seats in the Parliament but the loss in Presidential elections forced Ranil Wickremesinghe to resign from the Prime Ministerial post and Mahinda Rajapaksa, Gotabaya’s elder brother, was sworn-in as the Prime Minister. Wickremesinghe has maintained that there will not be any changes to the electorates and all members will contest from their respective constituencies.

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Social distancing measures

The parliamentary elections have twice been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic and the scheduled poll will be conducted with social distancing measures. The voters have to wear masks and carry their own pens to mark ballot papers for choosing the desired candidate. Chief Election Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya has urged voters to vote without fear, saying they will make it safe for people to vote.

In late 2018, Sri Lanka went through a constitutional crisis when the power equations kept shifting. The then President Maithripala Sirisena appointed Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Prime Minister but the Supreme Court declared the move unconstitutional. A no-confidence motion was moved against Rajapaksa which threw the country into deeper crisis. The apex court had also overturned Sirisena’s decision to dissolve the parliament and ordered a stay on the snap elections.

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(Image: AP)