Dissanayake's NPP wins Lankan parliamentary election by landslide
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Dissanayake was elected President in September last but his Marxist coalition, the National People’s Power (NPP), had only three of the 225 parliamentary seats. Therefore he called a snap poll.
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COLOMBO, Nov 16: Lanka's Left coalition led by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake
has won the snap parliamentary election by landslide.
Dissanayake was elected President of Lanka in the September presidential election but his Marxist-leaning coalition, the National People’s Power (NPP), had only three seats in the 225-member parliament, and he called early polls.
In Thursday’s vote, the NPP won 123 seats, securing nearly 62% of the votes
cast. Vote was by paper ballots. The coalition won six seats in Jaffna, a Tamil-majority
district.
The Janatha Vimukti Peramuna (JVP), a Marxist political party, is part of the
NPP coalition that Dissanayake now heads.
The current parliament was elected in 2020. The parliament is unicameral and
has a five-year term. The right-wing Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) or Sri
Lanka People’s Front of the Rajapaksa family has a majority with 145 of the
225 seats in the existing House. The Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) of Sajith
Premadasa has 54 seats. The Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK), the largest
Tamil party, has 10 seats. Dissanayake’s NPP has only three seats. Other parties
hold the remaining 13 seats. Dissanayake dissolved the parliament on September
24 last.
Dissanayake said, “There is a change in Sri Lanka’s political culture that
started in September, which must continue.”
Sajith Premadasa’s Samagi Jana Balawegaya party won 28 seats and the New Democratic
Front of former President Ranil Wickremesinghe only three seats.
Out of 225 seats, 196 are directly elected from 22 constituencies by proportional
representation (distributes seats within each district amongst political parties
based on their vote share) and 29 seats are allocated based on each party’s
vote share. A party needs 113 seats for majority in the parliament.
The President (executive presidency) has executive powers but needs parliamentary
approval to form a Cabinet and on economic issues. Dissanayake has promised
to abolish the executive presidency.
The island was just recovering from an serious economic crisis attributed to
its previous dynastic rulers, with an IMF aid of $2.9 billion bringing economic
stability.
A record 690 political parties and independent groups contested the election
across 22 districts. There were 17 million voters in a population of 22 million.
Dissanayake, 55, was elected as Lanka’s President in September after a historic
second round of counting, which included second-preference votes. Outgoing President
Ranil Wikremesinghe came third.
Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was forced to leave Lanka in 2022 amidst
mass protests due to economic crisis. The public debt was $83 bn and inflation
touched 70%. The crisis was attributed to systemic corruption, political impunity
and cronyism. His successor was President Wickremesinghe.
Dissanayake had plans to dissolve Parliament after coming to power. "There
is no point continuing with a parliament that is not in line with what the people
want," he said.
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SELECTIONS FROM OUR ARCHIVES |
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PROGNOSIS: DOGE was prematurely born to protect the country by aborting an impending socio-economic disaster which very few people could see coming.
Although its immediate job was to save American taxpayers billions by slashing waste, eliminating fraud, cutting Government bloat and ensuring utmost efficiency in administration for the good of the people.
(Today's headlines )
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48 tourist destinations closed in Kashmir following Pahalgam terror attack
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