Sri Lanka’s next parliament will be a more balanced one if parliamentary elections are held before a presidential election and won’t result in any one party monopolising political power, Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) national organiser Basil Rajapaksa said.
In an exclusive interview given to the privately owned NewsFirst network on Thursday March 14 , Rajapaksa said power should not be concentrated around one party.
“The party that wins the presidential election may secure unlimited power. I don’t think that’s a good situation. So before that, so as not to be influenced by the result of the presidential election, if the parliamentary election is held first, that will result in a more balanced parliament,” he said.
“No one will be washed away or disappear. This was why the proportional representation system was introduced. We showed that that was of no use,” he added.
Rajapaksa said that following the 2019 presidential election, which the SLPP won in a landslide securing 6.9 million votes, the parliamentary elections that were held in 2020 after some delays due to the pandemic proved hugely beneficial to his party.
“We got a two thirds’ majority, which is unlimited power. The people must decide if it is right to give that much power to one party,” he said.
Asked by the interview if Rajapaksa was saying the SLPP should not have won so big, he said: “There is a belief in the country that both the presidency and the two thirds’ majority concentrated in one place is not ideal.”
Constitutionally, Sri Lanka’s next presidential election is due to be held between September 17 and October 17 this year. President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who heads a government led by the formerly rival SLPP, has said that the presidential election will be held before a parliamentary election.
But Wickremesinghe hasn’t yet said definitively that he intends to contest the election.
Government spokesmen have also alluded to proposals of abolishing the executive presidency this year, which would effectively render the prospects of a presidential election null and void.
The SLPP is currently trailing behind other parties in at least one voting intent poll.