A vote that straddles Sri Lanka’s divides

Parliamentary elections in the South Asian country mark a shift from sectarian politics to respect for individual dignity.

The Monitor's View

In a year of major elections worldwide, one consistent theme so far has been a desire for more accountability in governance. Voters have tossed out incumbents, defied autocrats, and forced political rivals into partnerships. In particular, young people have demanded better economic performance.

One election stands out on that last note. In Sri Lanka last week, citizens elected a new Parliament with one party winning a majority large enough to make reforms without opposition. Corruption was the most vocal concern. But beneath that lay a desire for equal access to opportunities for wealth.

“Sri Lankans want to see a Government that works for them, not against them – a Government that acts in the national interest and upholds the rights and dignity of every citizen,” observed Daily Financial Times, a newspaper in Colombo, the capital.

The parliamentary vote followed the rise in September of Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the leader of a new coalition called the National People’s Power (NPP). The young upstart politician was elected president in the wake of a devastating financial crisis that erupted two years ago and toppled a political dynasty dominated by a single family. Mr. Dissanayake has vowed to tackle corruption and heal the ethnic and religious enmity that has long divided the island nation off the southern tip of India.

Voters have taken him at his word. The NPP made gains in Parliament across both the ethnic Sinhalese majority, which is mainly Buddhist, and the ethnic Tamils minority , who are mainly Hindu.. His party’s new supermajority – the first in Sri Lanka’s history – marks another unprecedented turn. Tamil voters, who still seek justice and land restitution stemming from a civil war that ended 15 years ago, rejected those parties that long fed off their ethnic grievances.

On Monday, Mr. Dissanayaka challenged his new Cabinet to uphold voters’ rejection of identity-based politics. In a symbolic gesture of unity, the new fisheries minister took the oath of office by speaking in Tamil, not in the dominant Sinhala.

Mr. Dissanayake may be an imperfect messenger of unity. He was once a strong proponent of Sinhalese nationalism. Yet during his campaign for office, he spoke in the language of reconciliation. “On the question of accountability, it should not be in a way to take revenge, not in a way to accuse someone, but only to find out the truth,” he said.

During the parliamentary campaign, some NPP candidates treated voters as “people,” not as “just a vote bank,” said Krishnan Kalaichelvi, an NPP candidate who won in a predominately Tamil district. “We campaigned hard on the ground, listening to people’s issues,” she told The Hindu, an Indian newspaper.

That humility plants the seeds for a renewal of democracy. “The challenge has always been convincing the majority community that granting equal rights to a numerically minority community does not take away their rights,” M.A. Sumanthiran, a Tamil politician, told The Hindu prior to the election. In Sri Lanka, identity-based divisions may be giving way to individual dignity.