SLPP MPs do not have people’s mandate as manifesto is defunct- IRES

Executive Director of the Institute of Democratic Reforms and Electoral Studies (IRES) Manjula Gajanayake has pointed out that the 145 SLPP MPs are without a popular mandate because the SLPP election manifesto ‘Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour’ is now defunct.

Gajanayake said President Wickremesinghe had been elected by a group of MPs who had lost a mandate to govern the country. A manifesto was a written statement of the beliefs, aims and policies of a political party (or any organisation) which is presented to the public for their endorsement at election, Gajanayake said, noting that most people decided to vote for political parties after perusing their manifestos.

Gajanayake said that in the ‘Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour’ former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had sought the people’s mandate and requested them to fulfil their responsibility and he would fulfill his responsibility by creating a secure and prosperous nation.The contents of SLPP’s manifesto ‘Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour’ had been endorsed by 6,853,690 electors, enabling the part to secure 145 of the 225 seats in parliament at the August 2020 parliamentary election.

Gajanayake said political parties in Sri Lanka were known to forget pre-election promises and pledges after being elected to office and the ‘Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour’ was no exception.Instead of creating a prosperous nation the people voted for, the SLPP government had mismanaged the economy to such an extent that the country had been driven to bankruptcy.

The people had pressured Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign, but they had not been able to get rid of the SLPP MPs, Gajanayake said, adding that as Sri Lanka followed the Westminster model dissolving parliament was not a constitutional obligation upon the president’s resignation. The MPs could have resigned of their own volition because that was what the people wished for, he said.

According to the Constitution of Sri Lanka “The President may by Proclamation, summon, prorogue and dissolve Parliament: Provided that the President shall not dissolve Parliament until the expiration of a period of not less than four years and six months from the date appointed for its first meeting, unless Parliament requests the President to do so by a resolution passed by not less than two-thirds of the whole number of Members (including those not present), voting in its favour.”.

Gajanayake suggested that election manifestos must be made legally binding to ensure that in the future all political parties would have to implement their election promises or face legal action.