The Rajapaksas are expected to sail to an easy parliamentary majority
of the venue clanged as clear as a temple bell. For his inauguration on November 18th Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the newly elected president of Sri Lanka, chose a sacred shrine in the ancient capital of Anuradhapura. The massive stupa houses relics of the Buddha. More pointedly, in a country often troubled by sectarian rifts, it commemorates the defeat in 140of Elara, a Tamil Hindu king, and the reunification of Sri Lanka under his Sinhalese Buddhist rival, King Dutugemunu.
Ethnic rifts were not nearly as visible when the older Mr Rajapaksa was ousted in an electoral upset in 2015 by a coalition of reform-minded Sinhalese and frightened minorities. He could not run for president again this time, because the term limits that he had abolished had been reinstated by the outgoing government in an effort to trim executive powers he was widely seen to have abused.
With the momentum of victory behind them and a third brother, Basil, having built the family electoral vehicle, the Sri Lanka People’s Front, into a formidable machine, the Rajapaksas are expected to sail to an easy parliamentary majority. Should that be as big as two-thirds—and many analysts think it will be—the Rajapaksas would not just control the presidency and parliament, but be able to revise the constitution, bolstering the power of the executive however they like.
One was the perceived dither and incompetence of the outgoing government. This was perpetually hamstrung by petty rivalry between the calculating Mr Wickremesinghe and the little-lamented departing president, Maithripala Sirisena, a former camp-follower of the Rajapaksas who destructively lashed out against his relegation to a figurehead role. The shock of multiple Islamist terror attacks on churches and hotels on Easter Sunday, which left 268 people dead, underscored the dysfunction.
France Dernières Nouvelles, France Actualités
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