Elections underway for new parliament
COLOMBO: Sri Lankans shrugged off fears of the novel coronavirus and streamed into polling centres yesterday to elect a new parliament that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa hopes will clear the way for him to boost his powers.
The tourism-dependent island nation of 21 million people has been struggling since deadly militant attacks on hotels and churches last year, claimed by Islamic State, followed painful lockdowns to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Mr Gotabaya is seeking a two-thirds majority for his party in the 225member parliament to enable constitutional reforms to make the presidency more powerful so he can implement his economic and national security agenda.
Polls opened at 7am, Colombo time, yesterday.
Election officials wore transparent face shields while medical personnel were deployed to ensure voters kept strict rules to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
“There will be no chance of you getting infected by the coronavirus at polling stations,” said the chairman of the Election Commission, Mahinda Deshapriya. “The polling station is safer than the beach, the restaurant and the marketplace, it’s totally corona free.”
Sri Lanka had reported 2,828 cases of the coronavirus and 11 deaths as of Tuesday, which is small compared with other South Asian countries.
Mr Gotabaya, who was elected president in November, has claimed credit for controlling the outbreak. He is hoping to install his older brother and former president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, as prime minister.
The brothers are best known for crushing ethnic minority Tamil separatist insurgents who battled for decades for a homeland in the island’s north and east. The 26-year civil war ended in 2009 when Mr Mahinda was president amid allegations of torture and killings of civilians in the final stages of the conflict.
Since then, governments led by the brothers’ opponents have sought to reduce the power of the president to prevent abuses and instead strengthen independent commissions appointed by parliament.
The leader of the main opposition party is Sajit Premadasa, the son of Ranasinghe Premadasa, who was assassinated while president by a Tamil suicide bomber in 1993.
Mr Premadasa’s party has warned of the risk of autocracy if the presidency is given more powers.