{"id":35495,"date":"2014-11-28T15:21:54","date_gmt":"2014-11-28T20:21:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=35495"},"modified":"2014-11-28T19:18:38","modified_gmt":"2014-11-29T00:18:38","slug":"mahinda-rajapaksa-the-man-who-won-the-war-and-lost-the-peace-with-weakening-grip-on-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=35495","title":{"rendered":"Mahinda Rajapaksa the Man who Won the War and Lost the Peace with Weakening Grip on Power."},"content":{"rendered":"

By<\/p>\n

Taylor Dibbert<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"sketch<\/a>

sketch by Hasantha Wijenayake<\/p><\/div>\n

Sri Lanka\u2019s President Mahinda Rajapaksa has just announced that the country will hold a presidential election two years early. The move had been expected for some time. The election will be held on January 8, 2015. In light of this development, there are other issues that merit attention.<\/p>\n

As mentioned in the New York Times, \u201cRajapaksa\u2019s second term officially ends in November 2016, but he can legally seek re-election after completing four years in office, a marker his office said he passed on Nov. 19.\u201d Essentially, he couldn\u2019t have called the election any earlier than he has.
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\nAdditionally, Sri Lanka is expecting a visit from Pope Francis from January 13-15. In spite of the custom whereby the Pope does not visit countries a month before or after an election is held \u2013 to help ensure that a Papal visit isn\u2019t manipulated for political purposes \u2013 it appears that the Pope\u2019s upcoming visit to Sri Lanka will remain unchanged. (The Vatican had recently asked for the election to be held no earlier than late January 2015). Even more recently, Sri Lanka\u2019s Roman Catholic church has stated that the Pope\u2019s visit should not be used for political campaigning, as his image has already been displayed in some campaign posters.<\/p>\n

Clearly Rajapaksa was aware that a snap election in January might compel the Vatican to rethink its travel plans. If he had announced that the election were to be held in in late-February or March, this wouldn\u2019t be an issue. The fact that Rajapaksa decided on a date in early January underscores that the regime is more skittish than ever, wanting the election to be held as soon as possible.<\/p>\n

Indeed, Rajapaksa has good reason to be worried. The results of the recent Uva Provincial Council election in September confirm that his government continues to lose support. Equally important, the country\u2019s main opposition party, the United National Party, picked up a lot of support in that same election.<\/p>\n

That said, a provincial council election simply isn\u2019t the same as a presidential one. For better or worse, Rajapaksa remains the most popular and charismatic man in Sri Lankan politics today. Besides, as an incumbent, Rajapaksa can use his existing power (and state resources) to his advantage during the campaign.<\/p>\n

In an especially intriguing development, Maithripala Sirisena, Sri Lanka\u2019s health minister and member of the president\u2019s Sri Lanka Freedom Party, resigned and will now run against Rajapaksa as the \u201ccommon candidate\u201d for the opposition. There is no question that Sirisena\u2019s move is troubling for Rajapaksa, as are several other high-level defections from the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. <\/p>\n

This is an important moment for the United National Party \u2013 the country\u2019s main opposition party. Even if Sirisena doesn\u2019t win, if he can make it a competitive race, it will mean that the country\u2019s other big Sinhala-Buddhist party is probably back in business, and actually poses a credible challenge to what has become an increasingly authoritarian regime.<\/p>\n

For a host of reasons, ranging from corruption to the regime\u2019s relentless consolidation of power to the erosion of the rule of law, the harsh repression of dissent and policies which have continued to alienate the country\u2019s ethnic minorities, the Rajapaksa government just isn\u2019t a popular as it used to be.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s long been said that, having militarily defeated the separatist Tamil Tigers in 2009 and ending a civil war that spanned nearly three decades, Mahinda Rajapaksa is the man who won the war, but then lost the peace.<\/p>\n

Irrespective of what happens during the upcoming presidential election. Sri Lanka still has a long way to go before the wounds of war can actually heal. Nonetheless, it\u2019s become increasingly clear that Rajapaksa is not up to the task.<\/p>\n

While it is unfortunate that Rajapaksa has governed so poorly, his grip on power is weakening \u2013 which is a development that should be welcomed.<\/p>\n

(Taylor Dibbert<\/strong> is a freelance writer<\/strong> based in Washington,<\/strong> D.C. and the author of Fiesta of Sunset<\/strong>: The Peace Corps, Guatemala and a Search for Truth.This article appears in “The Diplomat”)
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By Taylor Dibbert Sri Lanka\u2019s President Mahinda Rajapaksa has just announced that the country will hold a presidential election two years early. The move had been expected for some time. The election will be held on January 8, 2015. In light of this development, there are other issues that merit attention. As mentioned in the …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Mahinda Rajapaksa the Man who Won the War and Lost the Peace with Weakening Grip on Power.’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35495"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35495"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35495\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35518,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35495\/revisions\/35518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}