by Vishvanath
The JVP-led NPP conducted itself extremely well before and after last year’s presidential and parliamentary elections. Its rank and file did not even light firecrackers to celebrate their victory, and there were no incidents of political violence. Elections monitors, both local and foreign, commended the NPP for its exemplary conduct.
Perhaps, the JVP does not want to provide its political opponents with an opportunity to remind the public of its spree of violence in the late 1980s, when it went all out to disrupt elections, and perpetrated heinous crimes against voters and candidates alike for defying its calls for poll boycotts. Its mindless violence left hundreds, if not thousands, of people dead. Whatever the reason, the JVP’s peaceful election campaigns have gone down well with the public, who voted it into power eventually.
In fact, Sri Lankan elections have not been marred by large-scale vote rigging and election violence during the past decade or so in comparison to the previous polls. What brought the culture of political violence to an end in the post-war period was the 2015 regime change.
There was no pos-election violence following the 1994 regime change, which came after a 17-year UNP rule, which was characterized by violence and election malpractices.Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, elected Prime Minister and President in quick succession in that year, earned praise for her role in ridding the post-election period of violence. However, the 1999 North-Western Provincial Council election, held on her watch, opened a new low in Sri Lanka’s electoral politics. Goons working for the then SLFP-led People’s Alliance government assaulted UNP supporters, paraded them naked, stormed polling centres and stuffed ballot boxes with the police ordered to look the other way.
Elections were free from major incidents of riggingthereafter but political violence continued, albeit to varying degrees in different elections, until the 2015 parliamentary polls held under the UNP-led Yahapalana government.
Worryingly, the JVP/NPP has come under a cloud with reports emerging of some of its members linked to someincidents of intimidation recently. One of them took place in Kamburupitiya during an Opposition protest last week. While some SJB members were shouting anti-government slogans and demanding that the NPP’s election promises be honored, some persons described as government supporters confronted the protesters, who claimed that they were threatened. The incident received wide publicity on television and social media.
Another incident occurred in Yakkala a few days later, when nominations were submitted for a cooperative society election in the area. Some NPP activists held a protest, repeating various allegations against the Opposition, and the SJB has complained to the police that its candidates were obstructed from submitting their nominations. That incident too received wide media attention.
Addressing a political rally over the weekend, Opposition and SJB Leader Sajith Premadasa himself condemned the NPP for having acted in an aggressive manner in Yakkala, Kamburupitiya and some other places. The NPP has denied the allegations as baseless. It has said the Opposition is on a campaign to discredit the government to gain political mileage, unable to recover lost ground and fearing another crushing defeat in the upcoming LG elections. However, anti-incumbent sentiments work in such a way that public sympathy tends to be with the Opposition and not the government in power. More so in situations where the public experiences hardships and those in power fail to grant them relief, as is the case today.
The NPP is obviously reeling from a string of defeats in cooperative society elections over the past several weeks, and the Opposition is quite upbeat about its success ahead of the next local government polls. The JVP/NPP has chosen to react to the Opposition’s anti-government campaign, which is gathering momentum and yielding the desired results.
First, the NPP government sought to make light of its setbacks in the cooperative society elections, and then launched a campaign to mobilize popular support for the candidates backed by the government in those grassroots level polls, but without much success.
The government does not want to leave anything to chance with unresolved issues and unfulfilled election promises turning public opinion against it. Paddy farmers are up in arms, unable to obtain a fair price for their produce, and consumers are complaining of the soaring prices of rice, coconuts, etc. The price of salt is also expected to increase. Salt price increases will not affect the public much economically, but they will entail a political cost and become grist for the Opposition’s propaganda mill. The government has promised relief from its upcoming budget, but pay hikes for state workers, an increase in the Mahapola stipend for university students, etc., are not likely to benefit the vast majority of people who are demanding relief. So, the JVP/NPP may have opted to counter the Opposition’s anti-government campaign politically as well.
Power is highly addictive, and one cannot easily reconcile oneself to the prospect of losing it. Why the NPP is all out to avert an electoral setback even at the local government level is understandable; a decline in voter support will be made out to be the beginning of the end of the current administration. What led to the collapse of the mighty Rajapaksa government in 2015 was a decrease in the UPFA votes in the Uva Provincial Council election in September 2014; the UPFA retained the control of that council, but the number of its seats dropped to 19 from 25. The UNP, which had only 6 seats in the previous council, secured 13. The JVP won two seats. Thus, a decrease in popular support in the upcoming LG polls is the last thing the NPP wants. Hence its desperation to hold the Opposition at bay.
Political parties employ various strategies to show their opponents in a bad light. The SJB has been carrying out its anti-government activities in such a way as to try the patience of the NPP politicians and their supporters. It is bound to do everything possible to make the government rise to the bait and do something that will tarnish the latter’s image in the run-up to the LG elections. If last week’s incidents in Kamburupitiya and Yakkala are any indication, the Opposition is likely to succeed in its endeavor.