Manifesto Confrontation: Presidential Promises | Sri Lanka Guardian

by Veeragathy Thanabalasingham

Last week, the election manifestos of the three main presidential candidates were published.

First, on August 26, National People’s Party (NPP) leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake launched his manifesto titled “A Flourishing Nation – A Beautiful Life.” Then, on August 29, President Ranil Wickremesinghe launched his manifesto titled “Five Triumphant Years for Sri Lanka with Ranil,” while Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) leader Sajith Premadasa launched his manifesto titled “Victory for All.”

All three candidates have prioritized plans to save Sri Lanka from the economic crisis in their manifestos and have offered solutions to many of the country’s problems. It is doubtful, however, that ordinary people will read these long declarations with much patience.

Ranil Wickremesinghe delivers a key speech at an election rally.

Wickremesinghe strongly believes that economic recovery can only be achieved by continuing the economic restructuring measures implemented over the past two years, in line with the agreement reached by his government with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He suggests that the other two leading candidates may not carry out these restructuring measures effectively and asks the people for a five-year mandate.

Premadasa and Dissanayake also said they would honor the IMF agreement with some amendments, but would negotiate with the international lender to reduce the tax burden on the people. Therefore, regardless of who becomes the new president, it is clear that the economic recovery plan will be in line with the IMF agreement.

Change of Constitution

This article aims to briefly discuss the positions of the three leaders on constitutional issues and the national ethnic problem, as presented in their manifestos. Before the presidential elections were announced, all three candidates expressed their views on the political solution to the ethnic problem and mentioned it in their manifestos.

Dissanayake has long said the NPP government would draft a new constitution. But his manifesto reveals an unexpected approach. It proposes to speed up the constitution-drafting process that was carried out between 2015 and 2019 by the government of President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe. It envisages sharing political and administrative powers with local governments, districts and provinces to enable popular participation in governance through a new constitution. The manifesto does not directly refer to the 13th Amendment.

President Wickremesinghe, on the other hand, proposed that powers be devolved to provincial councils under the 13th Amendment, restoring powers previously regained by the central government. He also suggested that decisions on police powers for provincial councils be made by the new parliament. The president, who has promised to prioritise national reconciliation, has promised to pass the Truth and Reconciliation Act and implement the Nawaz Commission report on missing persons.

Premadasa states that his alliance is committed to amending the current Constitution and creating a new one with proper consultations involving religious leaders, political parties and members of civil society. His manifesto indicates the goal of moving to a parliamentary system with maximum decentralization based on the 13th Amendment, while reaffirming the commitment to the Provincial Councils by not revoking their powers and increasing the development of the provinces.

Abolition of the office of executive president

On the issue of abolishing the executive presidency, Dissanayake stated that his government would abolish the executive presidential system, establish a parliamentary system, and create a non-executive presidency. Wickremesinghe, however, indicated that the responsibility for framing a new constitution would be handed over to a new parliament elected after the presidential elections. He also mentioned that the new parliament should decide whether to abolish the executive presidency, a position he reiterated.

Premadasa and Dissanayake argued for leaving the decision to abolish the presidential system to the next parliament, which will be elected with a new mandate from the people. Despite decades of debate on the issue, no concrete steps have been taken so far. People remain skeptical about the political integrity of the candidates’ promises.

An important question is whether political parties in the new parliament will be able to reach a consensus on drafting a new constitution, given the current political situation and party support.

National and ethnic situation

There is an opportunity for Tamil political parties to make effective use of the current situation. Unfortunately, many Tamil parties in the north and east seem indifferent to this opportunity.

Tamil parties advocating a permanent solution to the national and ethnic problem have urged the Sri Lankan government to fully implement the 13th Amendment and have asked New Delhi to exert pressure on Colombo. The leaders of these parties should not assume that their responsibility is over after such applications are made. They must work together to persuade or exert pressure on the government to fully implement the 13th Amendment.

Political strategy should be used to ensure a conducive environment. Given the favourable positions taken on the 13th Amendment by the three main candidates, Tamil party leaders should contact them to seek assurances that the next president will not oppose future efforts to implement the amendment. This pragmatic approach seems prudent.

While I am not in favour of the 13th Amendment, it is prudent for Tamil parties to adopt such a strategy, given that they see it as a step towards a lasting political solution.

There is also a faction in Tamil politics that completely rejects the 13th Amendment.

Do today’s Tamils ​​have the political clout to force any future government to reinstate similar or lesser provisions if the amendment is repealed? This question remains unanswered. While dreams are easy, Tamils ​​need to focus on practicality.

13A and above

The Dissanayake Manifesto mentions the completion of the constitution-drafting process by the “Yahapalana” government. During this process, then Opposition Leader R. Sampanthan and Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP M. A. Sumanthiran suggested exploring more comprehensive decentralization proposals beyond the 13th Amendment, which implies moving away from the focus on the 13th Amendment.

However, due to the change of regime, the process of drafting the constitution could not continue. Prime Minister Wickremesinghe submitted an interim report to the parliament.

Some Tamil politicians see the absence of a specific reference to the 13th Amendment in Dissanayake’s manifesto as a positive sign, suggesting that the NPP is determined to complete the stalled constitution drafting process.

However, given that the 13th Amendment has not been properly implemented for over three decades, Tamil political parties have been hoping for solutions beyond it. This hope stems from the previous strategies used by former President Ranasinghe Premadasa to avoid the implementation of the amendment.

Successive leaders, including Chandrika Kumaratunga and Mahinda Rajapaksa, took initiatives but ensured that the 13th Amendment remained inadequately implemented. Rajapaksa did not release the report of the All-Party Representative Committee headed by Prof. Tissa Vitharana. Given this experience, Tamil party leaders should adopt a strategy that will ensure full implementation of the 13th Amendment for now.

Veeragathy Thanabalasingham is the Editor-in-Chief of Thinakkural, a well-known Tamil language newspaper based in Colombo.