A new regime

Saturday, 23 November 2019 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

A new President has been elected. ‘What next?’ people begin to wonder. Will Parliament be dissolved? If so, when will it happen? The Prime Minister has resigned. Who will be in the new Cabinet?

Simplicity seems to be the hallmark of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. He wore a simple outfit at the swearing-in ceremony and at the guard-of-honour followed by assuming duties at the Presidential Secretariat.

He did not want his or any other politician’s photograph hung in Government institutions as was done earlier. He wanted only the State emblem displayed.

The Presidential Election created a couple of records. Firstly, a record 35 candidates contested the election. Secondly, only the winner and the runner-up saved their deposits. The other 33 lost their deposits since they failed to get 5% of the valid votes cast. The money went to State coffers. Each candidate contesting from registered political parties paid Rs. 50,000 deposit each while the amount for an independent candidate was Rs. 75,000.

Only two reached seven figures – winner Gotabaya Rajapaksa (SLPP/SPFA) 6,924,255 – 52.25% and Sajith Premadasa (UNP/NDF) 5,564,239 – 41.99%. The third, Anura Kunmara Dissanayaka (NMPP/JVP) collected only 418,553 – 31.16%. The balance 31 contestants got less than 50,000 votes each. The last person had only 976 votes.

Of the 16 million (15,992,096) registered electors, the number who exercised their votes were 13,252,499 of which 135,452 votes were rejected. The total polled was 13,387,951.

Of the 22 electoral districts Gotabaya R collected more votes in 16 districts with Sajith P leading in the other six. The districts won by the winning President were Anuradhapura, Badulla, Colombo, Galle, Gampaha, Hambantota, Kalutara, Kandy, Kegalle, Kurunegala, Matale, Matara, Moneragala, Polonnaruwa, Puttalam and Ratnapura. The balance districts won by Sajith P were Batticaloa, Digamadulla, Jaffna, Nuwara Eliya, Trincomalee and Vanni. Looking back, the Presidential Election system in Sri Lanka started in 1972. Governor-General William Gopallawa was the first President under the new Constitution, initially as a Non-Executive President until his retirement in February 1978. Then Prime Minister J.R. Jayewardene took over under the 1978 Constitution and was the President till 1989. The other Presidents were: R. Premadasa (January 1979-May 1993); D.B. Wijetunga (May ’93-Nov.’94); Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga (Nov ’94-Nov 2005); Mahinda Rajapaksa (Nov 2005-9 Jan 2015); Maithripala Sirisena (Jan 2015-November 2019).