NPP popularity dips in first electoral test

Tuesday’s local authorities election is over, and the results are out and it’s not good news for the ruling National People’s Party (NPP) whatever spin one may try to put on it. The NPP won around 43% of the national vote, down from nearly 62% in last November’s Parliamentary election.  

JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva chose to blame the electoral system for the NPP’s failure to secure a majority in many councils without admitting that many who voted for the NPP have lost faith in the current leadership’s ability to keep to its election promises. It’s ironic that Silva chose to blame the proportional representation system of election members for their poor showing when it is thanks to this system that the JVP and many other small parties have managed to win any seats in parliament and other elected bodies over the years.

That aside claims by President Anura Kumara Disanayake and others in the NPP that the party has obliterated ethnic/religious divisions in the country by securing majority support in the North and East has also become a damp squid going by the results. In the North and East, the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) won 43 of the 58 councils it contested while other Tamil parties also made gains after suffering setbacks in last year’s Presidential and General elections.

The main Opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) made gains in its vote base winning around 22% of the vote from 17.6% in the last Parliamentary election while the UNP is hovering around the same place at around 4% of the vote. The surprise bounce back was from the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) which increased its vote count from around 350,000 last September/November to close to a million, going from 3% to over 9% of the vote.

The election is certainly a wakeup call for the Government with voters sending the message that even with a two-third majority in parliament, the ruling side should not take the voters for granted. During the election campaign, it was president Disanayake who shouldered much of the work going from town to town, but the results show that he too has lost his clout among ordinary voters. In the rural areas, farmers are still struggling for a reasonable price for their paddy, for fertiliser, for solutions to human-elephant conflict, pest control, etc. They have shown that they will not buy into empty promises and have sent out a strong message to the Government.

The NPP has retained much of its support in the Western Province winning many of the councils convincingly. One reason may be its anti-corruption drive as well as the seemingly austere lifestyles of Government ministers/MPs when compared to their predecessors.

For the SJB and the UNP also there is a message in the vote. Unite or perish is what the voters have said. The result in some councils shows that had the two sides contested together, they would certainly have put on a better showing.

The NPP’s success in the Presidential election was thanks to the divisions within the SJB and the UNP and this too has highlighted the same issue. That aside, the oppositions are in need of new leadership because SJB leader Sajith Premadasa is nearing his arch nemesis Ranil Wickremesinghe’s record of losing successive elections. Now is a good time for him to step down and allow a new leader to take over paving the way for the two sides to unite so that when the Provincial Council elections are held next year, they have the best chance of taking power. Otherwise, the SLPP is likely to steal a march over the SJB sooner than later.