The Rajapaksas’ political party met on Monday to discuss strategy ahead of Sri Lanka’s presidential polls.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP or People’s Front) — led by the once-powerful Rajapaksa clan which was deposed from power in 2022 — has said it will not back President Ranil Wickremesinghe in the presidential polls in September.
The decision, announced after the party’s central committee’s meeting on Monday, marks the withdrawal of the Rajapaksas’ support to Mr. Wickremesinghe, two years after they helped him rise to the country’s most powerful office. He replaced former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who resigned in July 2022, in the wake of a mass uprising that blamed him chiefly for the country’s dramatic economic crash.
Ranil Wickremesinghe | From lone MP to PM
In 2021, Mr. Wickremesinghe was the United National Party’s (UNP) lone MP in parliament, following his party’s poll debacle in the 2020 general election. In May 2022, Mr. Gotabaya appointed him Prime Minister, in place of Mr. Mahinda, who resigned amid the surging protests. After Mr. Gotabaya stepped down in July 2022, Mr. Wickremesinghe won an urgent parliamentary vote with the SLPP’s support, and has since relied on it to pass several legislations.
While Mr. Wickremesinghe earned praise from some for taking over the country’s leadership at a critical time, and “stabilising” its battered economy, his dependence on and association with the Rajapaksas have drawn criticism from those who sought a clean break from the Rajapaksa administration tainted by allegations of corruption and mismanagement. In November 2023, Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court ruled that the Rajapaksa brothers (Mr. Mahinda, Mr. Gotabaya and Mr. Basil), along with other top officials in their government [2019 to 2022] “demonstrably contributed to” the country’s devastating economic crisis and violated “public trust”, but they faced no consequence.
On their party’s poll-time decision, SLPP General Secretary Sagara Kariyawasam said Mr. Wickremesinghe’s policies were not agreeable to members. “For instance, our party has a position on whether and how to go about privatising national assets. But the President does not care about national assets or the underprivileged people of this country,” he told The Hindu on Tuesday. Asked about the candidate the party would field, Mr. Kariyawasam said: “That decision has not been taken as yet,” amid wide speculation that a non-Rajapaksa may be nominated for the first time.
Meanwhile, some SLPP members, especially those who are part of Mr. Wickremesinghe’s Cabinet, are expected to stay with him in the coming election, signalling a virtual split in the SLPP.
Namal Rajapaksa, son of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the party’s national organiser, has blamed Mr. Wickremesinghe for dividing the party that backed him over the last two years. Following Monday’s decision, Mr. Namal, a parliamentarian from the southern Hambantota district, said on the social media platform ‘X’: “With our decision to field our own candidate, we acknowledge past challenges and commit to unity, economic stability, and restoring trust.”
For now, this leaves Mr. Wickremesinghe with what remains of his UNP —its breakaway faction, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB or United People’s Force), is the main opposition party — a faction of the SLPP, and certain other backers, including from parties representing the island nation’s minority Tamils, Muslims, and Malaiyaha (hill country) Tamils. Contesting this election as an independent candidate, Mr. Wickremesinghe faces at least two strong challengers in Leader of Opposition Sajith Premadasa, and Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who leads the opposition National People’s Power (NPP) alliance.
In a media statement on Tuesday evening, the President’s office said 92 legislators, of the 225-member House, pledged their support to him.
