Sri Lanka's fragile government faces scrutiny over attempt to delay local election

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe's seeming reluctance to hold a local election that would have offered clues about his popularity levels has raised questions among the public and observers about the administration's commitment to democratic norms.

The government had initially indefinitely postponed the March 9 poll to elect some 8,711 members of municipal councils, urban councils and divisional councils, claiming it did not have the 10 billion Sri Lankan rupees (US$30 million) required to hold the vote.

President Wickremesinghe had also said in parliament that there had been no proper "quorum" when deciding the date of the elections, since three members of the elections commission had joined the meeting via a Zoom call, making the decision illegal.

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"There is no money to hold elections, and even if there is money, there is no election," he said.

Protests in late February against the poll's indefinite postponement - led by the National People's Power (NPP), a small but vocal coalition of socialist parties - drew large crowds nationwide. Last Friday, the government's detractors received a shot in the arm after Sri Lanka's apex court directed the administration to proceed with the poll.

The court issued a restraining order preventing the treasury chief and Wickremesinghe in his capacity as finance minister from "withholding funds allocated in the 2023 budget for the purpose of conducting local government polls".

One of Wickremesinghe's ministers later said the government would abide by the court's order, but a date for the vote has not been set.

Voters who spoke to This Week in Asia voiced anger at the government's attempt to postpone the vote. "A government can continue to use the excuse of being bankrupt to postpone the elections forever, then keep the country bankrupt forever to remain in power," said Charith Janappriya, a 32-year-old from Colombo.

Wickremesinghe's party suffered a historic defeat during the 2020 general election and received just a solitary seat, through the national list, where members of parliament are appointed by a political party or independent group, in addition to those who are elected by the public.

He was appointed president last year through a parliamentary vote following predecessor Gotabaya Rajapaksa's resignation. While the appointment was constitutional, many Sri Lankans refer to him as a "president without a mandate".

Wickremesinghe came to power by showing "constitutional magic" and is now violating people's rights at every turn, protester Janappriya said.

A local government candidate representing the NPP died during the protest and over a dozen people were injured as police fired tear gas and water cannons at protesters, leading Amnesty International to call for restraint in the use of force during peaceful assembly.

Janappriya was in that massive NPP protest, and was also part of an eight-member team involved in throwing gas canisters away from crowds before they could create too much harm.

He said the gas "was fired from the front and behind, leaving no openings for people to disperse".

Another protester Prasadi Hendalage, 30, a teacher from the town of Wattala, near Colombo, said she wanted to "do something" as a representative of young people, given the deteriorating state of democracy in Sri Lanka.

"The economy has collapsed and everything is unstable," Hendalage said. "So if the franchise is also lost, can we still hold any hopes for the country's future?"

AA Dani, a retired head teacher from the southern town of Hambantota - the stronghold of the Rajapaksa party, the Sri Lanka People's Front, which dominates parliament - said the president was postponing the election to protect the "capitalist class", including the Rajapaksas.

"If an election is held, the [political] power would shift towards the socialist camps. They cannot bear this because then all their misdeeds would be revealed," he said.

Many Sri Lankans who did not take part in protests hold similar sentiments. K Viswalingam, a retired civil servant, said elections were vital for people to have their say in how they were governed.

"So the right to have elections, and the right to vote, should not be postponed for inadequate reasons ... like not having money," he said.

Many of Sri Lanka's experts agree. Last week, in a public statement, 81 experts from various fields expressed their concerns about the government and the "executive branch" pressurising the elections commission to postpone the poll.

While the polls in question cannot directly change the government, it is viewed as a litmus test of the people's trust in those in charge of the country.

Sri Lanka is at a crucial political "conjuncture", with people's mindsets changing "drastically" over the past year, said Professor Nirmal Ranjith Dewasiri, a political analyst.

In Sinhalese areas, there was a voter drift towards the NPP - as indicated by last month's protests - and other opposition parties, he added.

"If you feel the political pulse of the people, there is no mass support for the [parties] dominating the parliament, and the president," he said. So, Wickremesinghe's statement about elections "ridicules the very basis of democracy".

Professor Ratnajeevan Hoole, a former member of the elections commission, said the election was currently even more important than the expected US$2.9 billion loan due to come from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Sri Lanka has been negotiating loan terms since its historic debt default last year.

The current government cannot be entrusted with the IMF money, Hoole said.

"After [an election], the legitimately elected party can ask for the IMF loan. We need genuine representatives we can trust," he said, adding that local polls could indicate to the IMF whether to issue financing to the national government.

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

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