Politics of Sri Lanka - Political Conditions

Political Conditions

Sri Lanka's two major political parties – the United National Party (UNP) and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) – embrace democratic values, international nonalignment, and encouragement of Sinhalese culture. Past differences between the two on foreign and economic policy have narrowed. Generally, the SLFP envisions a broader role for the state, and the UNP a broader role for capitalism.

Sri Lanka has a multi-party democracy that enjoys surprising stability given the high levels of political violence, especially that which occurred under the UNP regime of 1977–1993. Recent elections have seen decreasing election violence between the SLFP and the UNP, compared to the period 1977–1994. Elections have been cleaner, without the rampant impersonation and vote-rigging which characterised the 1982 Presidential Election, the notorious Referendum of the same year, the Presidential Election of 1988 and the General Election of 1989.

The president (Mrs C.B. Kumaratunaga, SLFP) dissolved the parliament in February 2004 after a two year term (though the parliament was elected for a six-year term.) The election was held on 2 April 2004. The SLFP in alliance with the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) secured the most seats by a single party but failed to achieve a majority. One of the ironies of the alliance was that the President's husband had in fact been assassinated by a member of the JVP.

As a result of the alliance they lost the very first vote in parliament; that of appointment of the speaker. As a result the parliament did not pass a single bill from February to May.