Parliamentary elections are being held in Sri Lanka today. 1 crore 70 lakh people are voting for 225 seats of Parliament. Voting has started from 7 pm and will continue till 4 pm. Any party needs 113 seats to win the parliament.
Parliamentary elections were held in Sri Lanka in August 2020. In such a situation, fresh elections were to be held next year, but Anura Kumara Dissanayake dissolved Parliament after winning the presidential election in September this year.
President Dissanayake is trying to secure a majority in this election so that most of the policies of his Janata Vimukti Peramuna (JVP) party can be approved in Parliament. The JVP is part of the National People's Power (NPP) coalition, but the party has only 3 MPs in Parliament.
According to election experts, Dissanayake's party can win this election. None of the Rajapaksa brothers, who have dominated Sri Lankan politics for the past few decades, are contesting the elections this time.
A policeman checks a woman's ID before voting in Sri Lanka.
Dissanayake promised to reduce the powers of the acting President According to the Election Commission of Sri Lanka, 8821 candidates are contesting the elections. Under the system of proportional representation, voters directly elect 196 members to Parliament from 22 constituencies. The remaining 29 seats are distributed according to proportional votes. The party gets a share of 29 seats according to the number of votes it gets in the elections. A voter can vote for 3 candidates based on preference.
According to Al Jazeera, President Dissanayake believes that the country's power rests largely with the 'acting president'. He ran for office promising to curtail this power, but that would require changes to the constitution. For this they need two-thirds of the seats. Dissanayake is appealing to the public to win so many seats.
The position of Executive President first came into existence in Sri Lanka in 1978. He has been criticized ever since, but till date no party has tried to destroy his power after coming to power.
Dissanayake has promised to curb corruption under Ranil Wickremesinghe and improve the deal with the IMF.
In the electoral arena, many parties can form a government by forming a coalition with only 3 seats Dissanayake's NPP is up against former PM Sajitha Premadasa's party (SJB), former president Ranil Wickremesinghe's United National Party (UNP), New Democratic Front (NDF) and the Rajapaksa family's Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) in the election. Wickramasinghe says that he saved the country from bankruptcy.
Sri Lanka went bankrupt in 2022 due to failure to repay loans on time. This was followed by anti-national protests, after which the then Prime Minister Gotabaya Rajapaksa had to flee the country. After this, Ranil Wickramasingh took over the country.
Dissanayake's party is likely to get majority According to media reports, Dissanayake's coalition may win a majority in the parliamentary elections after a landslide victory in the presidential election. Sajith Premadasa's party SJB, which came second in the presidential polls, may finish second. Remaining parties may be eliminated.
When will the election results be out? According to media reports, the result may come after 1 or 2 days of the election. In 2020, the results were declared within two days of voting.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
