Whither SLPP?

The National Organiser of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), MP Namal Rajapaksa, has been placed in remand custody till the end of September over allegations of money laundering in connection with the Airbus deal. This is not the only legal problem that Namal Rajapaksa faces. He has been indicted in another case over the alleged misappropriation of Rs. 70 million belonging to Krrish Company. Additionally, there could be more cases piling up in the months ahead, with President Anura Kumara Dissanayake himself making it clear during his public rallies that family connections will not save anyone from facing the full force of the law under the NPP.

SLPP supporters have put the cases against Namal and others in the Rajapaksa family down to political revenge, but many of these investigations commenced under the previous administration and their fate will be decided by the courts. With no end in sight for Namal’s legal woes, the future of the SLPP hangs in the balance.

The SLPP was formed in 2016 with Basil Rajapaksa as its National Organiser, the post that Namal Rajapaksa now holds, under the leadership of Mahinda Rajapaksa. The party was formed a little over a year after Maithripala Sirisena defected from the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP)-led United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) Government headed by Mahinda Rajapaksa. Sirisena became the common presidential candidate in 2015, giving leadership to a multi-party alliance led by the UNP, and later took over as Chairman of the SLFP, a post that had been held by Mahinda Rajapaksa till then.

With the party out of their hands, Basil Rajapaksa, the political strategist of the family, set about forming a new party, which they called the SLPP. Given the dismal performance of the Maithripala Sirisena-led Government, the SLPP saw a meteoric rise, winning the local authorities election held in 2018 by a landslide, just two years after the party was formed. The party reached giddy heights of success at the 2019 presidential election, in which Gotabaya Rajapaksa was elected, as well as at the 2020 parliamentary election, in which it won a two-thirds majority. As spectacular as its rise has been the SLPP’s fall, with the party reduced to just three seats in Parliament at the 2024 general election.

The problem for the SLPP is that the party was founded to secure the political future of the Rajapaksa family and not in the public interest. Gotabaya Rajapaksa was forced to take on the 2019 presidential candidacy even when there were questions over his dual citizenship almost up to the time that nominations were handed over. While a decision regarding his citizenship was pending before the court and nomination day drew close, Chamal Rajapaksa handed over his nomination papers as a candidate just in case his brother was disqualified over his citizenship issue. How Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s steep rise ended is well known, but after his exit, and with Basil Rajapaksa vanishing from the country, Namal Rajapaksa took over as National Organiser, with Mahinda Rajapaksa remaining as leader.

However, with the junior Rajapaksa now behind bars and facing serious allegations of financial crimes, the SLPP is like a ship without a captain. In his absence, the former President was forced to make an appearance at the SLPP public rally in Anuradhapura a few weeks ago, but given his delicate health, it is unlikely he will be able to shoulder the responsibilities of the SLPP during his son’s absence.

Most of the former SLPP MPs who continue to publicly endorse Namal Rajapaksa are also facing allegations of financial misappropriation and are far from acceptable as public representatives. They seem to be looking to Namal Rajapaksa to salvage their political future.

Herein lies the problem with political parties that are formed to prop up members of one family and crown an heir, not because they are politically competent but because they belong to a certain family.

Any comparison between Namal and Mahinda Rajapaksa is laughable. Mahinda Rajapaksa, though coming from a family with political links, forged his own path by being politically savvy, charismatic and a hands-on politician, which gave him mass appeal. He remains the only crowd puller for the SLPP. Political skills are rarely inherited, and what little support the junior Rajapaksa has will fade away if he is convicted in the cases he now faces.

The SLPP was a political aberration in the first place. There was no sincerity when it was formed, with the only objective being to preserve a bloodline. The SLFP offered a middle-of-the-road alternative to the UNP when it was formed in 1951 and, even today, remains a better alternative than the SLPP for those with centrist political leanings. A resurgent SLFP will fare better electorally as the political fortunes of the SLPP wane.