It Is The People’s Opinion That Makes & Breaks Governments

By Chandra Jayaratne –April 2, 2016

Chandra Jayaratne

“It is the People’s Opinion that Makes and Breaks Governments” – President

“Nobody can win elections only by working for the country alone and it is the people’s opinion that makes and breaks governments” says President Maithripala Sirisena – (Daily FT 2nd April 2016)

Yours Sincerely,

Political scientist Harold Lasswell once noted, “The open interplay of opinion and policy is the distinguishing mark of popular rule.” “Public opinion plays a number of important roles in a representative democracy. Leaders can take public opinion into account when making laws and formulating policy. Public opinion can act as a check on leadership, as the members of the public can express their dissatisfaction with politicians who refuse to take their opinions into account and vote them out of office. Opinion polls provide a mechanism for succinctly presenting the views of the mass public to government leaders who are making decisions that will affect society. Leaders often monitor the public pulse when making policy decisions, especially when they face an election campaign.” – Harold D. Lasswell, Democracy through Public Opinion (Menasha, WI: George Banta Publishing Company, 1941), 15.

The President, the Prime Minister and Government are therefore best advised to assess public opinion on the “Delivery of the Promise of Democratic Transparent Good Governance over the last 15 months”.

In addition to a generic opinion on above, the government will benefit immensely by testing public opinion on the undernoted specific issues and actions;

1. Failure to yet deliver the following promises included in the first 100 day programme;

• Enact the Right to Information Act
• Adopt a Code of Conduct and Ethics Governing Persons in Public Life and control of Conflicts of Interests and Related Party transactions
• Enact the National Audit Act                                                   Read More