Mahinda Rajapaksa: End of an Aura

Who would have thought even a year ago that Mahinda Rajapaksa could be ousted from power? And remain so. He had ruled Sri Lanka for over a decade, first as prime minister in 2004 and then as President after 2005, with an iron grip, crushing any dissent or challenger, and bringing to an end the island nation’s 26-year-long war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). He was criticised for human rights abuses, for indiscriminately shelling civilians at the end of the war, and dogged with accusations of corruption. He amended Sri Lanka’s constitution to his own benefit, awarded his three brothers influential positions within the government, and, it is said, was grooming his eldest son to succeed him.

Yet no one seemed able to challenge him. In the 2010 presidential election, he defeated General Sarath Fonseka, his former loyalist who had commandeered the forces that crushed the LTTE, and later had him jailed for implicating the government in war crimes. Under his regime, critical voices were routinely silenced. The most well-known case being that of The Sunday Leader newspaper editor, Lasantha Wickrematunge, who was shot dead in 2009. Quite remarkably, his last column, published posthumously, was about his imagined death and how the Rajapaksa administration would be responsible for it.

Rajapaksa sought an unprecedented third term as president earlier this year, and by most accounts, it appeared he would have his way yet again. On the advice of his astrologer who foresaw ‘a big victory’, not just for a third but also a fourth term because of Rajapaksa’s ‘great inborn power’, he called for polls two years ahead of schedule.

But he failed to detect straws in the wind. Maithripala Sirisena, the low- profile minister and long-time ally in his administration who he had shared dinner with him on the night the election was called, threw his name into the ring as a candidate the following morning. Shrewdly managing varied and often combustible interests and dissenting voices, Sirisena, to the shock of many, toppled a figure who had appeared invincible in Sri Lankan politics.

Rajapaksa, however, was determined to return to power. If not as president, then as prime minister. Sirisena called an early parliamentary vote this year hoping to secure a stronger mandate for reforms. But the former president tried to use this opportunity to revive his floundering political prospects. The power struggle between Rajapaksa and Sirisena, the past and current presidents, overshadowed the just-concluded parliamentary election in the country.

But it was all for naught. The alliance led by Rajapaksa’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) managed only 95 seats, according to Reuters, and the ruling United National Party (UNP) won 106 seats, just seven short of a majority. The current Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is expected to continue.

Rajapaksa’s second loss in less than a year will also mean that the noose around his neck tightens. Several investigations of corruption are already underway. Earlier this month, one of his sons, Yoshitha, was accused by the government for the killing of a rugby player in 2012. The two had apparently been in a dispute over a woman. Rajapaksa’s bodyguards were said to be involved in the murder. Some months ago, Rajapaksa’s brother Basil, the former economic development minister, The New York Times reports, was arrested for corruption. Another brother, Gotabhaya, was summoned to appear before the nation’s Bribery Commission. ‘In June, his wife, Shiranthi, was questioned by the newly formed Financial Crime Investigation Division,’ says the report. Ironically, the victory over the LTTE was the beginning of his fall.

electionsLTTEMahinda RajapaksaSirisenaSLFPSri LankaUNP