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Opinion | After Sri Lanka’s parliamentary polls, the Rajapaksas have their job cut out
- The SLPP of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa won a two-thirds majority to effect constitutional reforms
- The West will have to rethink its Sri Lanka strategy, while the country will have to choose the straight and narrow path with China and other countries
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Why you can trust SCMP
Wednesday’s parliamentary polls have reaffirmed Sri Lanka’s faith in the ruling Rajapaksa government. However, the electoral decimation of the United National Party (UNP), the nation’s “grand old party”, and the weakening of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), have a message, especially for the West, which now has to rethink its Sri Lanka strategy.
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With the support of two Tamil allies who strategically contested alone, the Rajapaksa-led ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Party (SLPP) now has a total of 151 MPs, including Speaker, in the 225-member Parliament, giving it a two-thirds majority to effect promised constitutional reforms aimed at restoring executive power that was haphazardly diluted by the previous government, in office from 2015-19.
Despite two postponements caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the effective management and containment of the virus – Sri Lanka has had 11 deaths and 2,900 confirmed cases – helped the Rajapaksa imagery in the parliamentary polls even more.
However, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s induction of uniformed officials, both serving and veterans, to lead task forces to address administrative hiccups has run into criticism for more reasons than one. In an ethnically-charged nation, Tamil-Hindus and Tamil-speaking Muslims see an entirely Sinhala-Buddhist task force to manage archaeological sites in multi-ethnic Eastern Province as an attempt to usurp their ancient history and places of worship.
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Communication hiccup
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