Entangled Mr. President Sirisena

By Dinesh D. Dodamgoda –September 2, 2015 

Dinesh Dodamgoda

The Colombo Telegraph (CT) reported that the President Maithripala Sirisena will have to lead the Sri Lanka Freedom Party’s (SLFP) campaign at the forthcoming polls to elect members to the local authorities, expected to take place at the end of the year.

The CT further reported that the above development comes in the wake of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa who led the UPFA campaign in a losing battle against the UNP at the last general election deciding to hand over the reins to Sirisena.

What does this mean? How different stakeholders would read this development, especially the UNP, people who voted for Mr. Sirisena at the last Presidential election, international players, the minority, the SLFP voters who voted for former President Rajapaksa at last elections, and the parties attached to the UPFA?

Mr. Sirisena declared when he was contesting the last the Presidential election that he would not contest again. However, his decision to lead the SLFP at the forthcoming local polls indicates that the President Sirisena is looking for a new voter base to derive legitimacy to acquire his political power. This implies that the President Sirisena is not yet ready to end his political journey. Most probably, his next political battle will be against the UNP, the party that supported him to be the President of Sri Lanka.Read More