Who Will Be Our Next President?

By Hilmy Ahamed –June 27, 2015

Hilmy Ahamed

With the announcement that parliament would be dissolved effective midnight, June 26th 2015, the political debate will move on to the next stage of building coalitions. The rebel group from the UPFA who have stood by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa may end up as political orphans, unless Mahinda Rajapaksa comes forward to provide leadership to their election campaign. Ranil Wickremesinghe’s United National Party (UNP) which probably will go it alone and is likely to emerge as the bigger winner at the next general election, may not succeed in getting the magic 113 number as a single party. So, they have to look for wheeler-dealers to form the next government. Will it be the minority parties or will it be Sirisena’s lot from the SLFP/UPFA? Sri Lanka needs a stable government and we pray that President Sirisena would be able to steer the next elected parliamentarians to work together with the national government concept.

The passage of the watered down 19A is a landmark achievement, yet it falls short of the many promises made by the common opposition in the run up to the January 2015 elections. The dilution of it is seen as a strategic move by vested interests to climb to the presidential seat after Maithripala Sirisena relinquishes office after his first term. Would president Sirisena quit after his first term or would he want the second term? He has renegaded on many of his election promises, and this may not be an exception.

The much talked about 20th Amendment will be put in to cold storage with parliament being dissolved without its passage. The minority parties strongly believe that Champika Ranawaka and some groups of Buddhist extremists are behind the attempt to deprive the minor and minority parties, the political influence they have had with successive governments. They believe that with the possible exit of Maithripala Sirisena after his first presidential term, Champika Ranawaka could stake a claim to the throne as the UPFA presidential candidate, and if minorities have no major say, it would be easier to convince the majority community that they need a nationalistic leader. His desperate ambition to lead the country is no secret and the fact that Champika and his lot opposed the total abolition of the executive presidential system gives credibility to this theory. Is President Maithripala aware of this possible conspiracy or has he become a victim of his own self-confidence.

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