13 March 2023
Gajalakshmi Paramasivam
AUTOCRATIC POWER IN SRI LANKA
‘In
Democracy, you have the right to Oppose through an alternate belief. Hence
Equal Opposition in Parliament is facilitated. In this instance if you, Vikum
Rajapakse are not part of the 'Colombo corporates' then you have the right to
oppose but not criticize’ Gaja on Twitter
Then my
attention went to Tamil MP Sumanthiran’s posting: ‘The President’s
convoluted argument that there is no local Government election has been
clinically destroyed by M.A. Sumanthiran PC. He posed the question of why RW’s
UNP, paid deposits and fielded candidates, if there were no Local Government
elections/ ft.lk/columns/Will-P…’
My mind questioned the validity of the above.
As per my knowledge, Mr Ranil
Wickremesinghe came to parliament in the last Parliamentary elections through the
National list entitlement. Wikipedia
includes the following under ‘National list
member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka:
‘On a few occasions caste groups from within the Sinhalese and Tamils also obtained representation in Parliament
as appointed members. In the Senate, 15 members were elected by the
lower chamber, the House of Representatives and the other 15 members were
appointed by the Governor-General on advice of the Prime Minister and generally consisted of distinguished individuals’
In
2022, Mr Wickremesinghe was appointed as Prime Minister by the then
President Mr Gotabaya Rajapaksa. An appointment happens in an autocratic system.
Election happens in Democracy. In reality, Sri Lanka became autocratic, due
also to those voters who became
dependent on government. Dependent voters promote autocracy. Hence that system became
naturally autocratic, which facilitated the Presidency which was denied to Mr Wickremesinghe
in 2005 when Tamil Freedom fighters – the LTTE blocked Tamil votes through
their autocratic power.
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