Uneasy lies the State
Come hell or high water; come multiple defeats in Parliamentary votes and continuing chaos in the country, President Maithripala Sirisena is not going to budge from disengaging from his October 26 putsch and re-setting the direction of this country.
This country is not a President’s private coconut estate to appoint a superintendent of his personal choice. He must abide by the Constitution and if it says the President “shall appoint” an MP who is likely to command the majority of Parliament, he must do so without prevaricating or vacillating as he is doing now.
The only thing certain about the Government of Mahinda Rajapaksa, propped up by the President, is that it will spin out the prevailing uncertainty in the country till December 7 in the hope that a fresh Supreme Court bench will untie the hands of the President from calling for fresh parliamentary elections.
That hope in the Rajapaksa camp is Plan B after attempts -still continuing -- to rustle up a majority in Parliament fell flat. The only way to re-set the setback is an election as far as the Rajapaksa camp is concerned with the belief that the agitation for democracy is merely city-based while its popular support in rural Sri Lanka remains unchanged from its resounding victory at the local government polls earlier this year.
The UNP-led UNF, on the other hand, is also waltzing into a make- believe world that the entire country has galvanised behind the party to save democracy from pocket edition autocrats. Democracy is not always given top priority when a cocktail of joblessness, rising cost of living a.k.a. ‘food on the table’ sprinkled with nationalistic sentiments are at play. The UNF, however, must hand the President a bouquet for helping the party, constantly battling intra-party dissension and leadership challenges, to come together.
Temple Trees, the official residence of the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka has become a lively address of the ‘people’s resistance’ to anti- democratic forces as our news item last week pointed out. Those who have come to express their solidarity to “their Prime Minister” still consider Ranil Wickremesinghe the de jure Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, one month after the miscalculated constitutional coup of October 26.
Some of them even believe that all this is a blessing in disguise and will not mind an election as it will be the SirisenaRajapaksa combo that will face the anti-incumbency fallout as there are no signs of the economy’s woes easing. There appear now hints of an escape route being mapped out for the President to re-establish the October 26 status quo ante, and hold provincial council elections to save face in the country and among the world at large. The week to come, however, will probably see the bickering continue and the stalemate with it.