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Centre for the Study of Human Rights

Faculty of Law
University of Colombo

Master of Human Rights and Democratisation 2023/24

Name with Initials: M. V. Sulakkana

Registration No: MHRD2324/40
Name of the Course: DTP
Assignment No: 01
Word Count: 1499

DECLARATION

• I declare that this assignment is my own work.

• I declare that I have acknowledged the ideas and findings of all other authors and have
cited them in accordance with a recognized format.
• I am fully aware of the severe consequences of plagiarism.
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DEMOCRACY IN SRI LANKA; CURRENT STATE AND THE POSSIBLE FUTURE

1. INTRODUCTION

Democracy can be described as the participation of citizens in the decision-making process and
the safeguarding of individual liberties. This essay will briefly discuss Sri Lanka’s democratic
path, the milestones after 2015 resulting in the current state, the applicability of “Democracy’s
Third Wave” (Huntington, 1991) in the Sri Lankan context, and the way forward.

2. THE PATH

When the current state of democracy in Sri Lanka is concerned, the historical background seems
part and parcel of it. It was during the British colonial rule, that democratic principles were
gradually introduced to our country. Through the 1833 constitution, the British attempted to
develop a representative model of governance known as a legislative council and introduced
several other Constitutions in 1910, 1920, and 1924, but the natives had no say in these
constitutions. However, the 1931 Constitution gave more authority to the native-elected
representatives over internal concerns. In the passage of the next 40 years, the British attempted to
give more authority and independence to Sri Lanka, and in 1948, Sri Lanka was granted
sovereignty with a democratic governance system, establishing a parliamentary framework.

It is to be noted at this juncture, that a period in which more countries embrace democracy has
been named a “wave of Democracy” by an American political scientist namely, Samuel
Huntington. According to his time classification, Sri Lanka embraced democracy during the
second wave. (1943-1962)

On May 16, 1972, Sri Lanka officially declared itself an independent republic. Thereafter, a series
of events happened from time to time deteriorating the true essence of democracy, in practice;

All this notwithstanding periodic civil turmoil including ethnic riots in 1958, the
assassination of Prime Minister Solomon Bandaranaike in 1959, an attempted military
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coup in 1962, and a student insurrection in 1971, it was not until the 1970s that rollbacks
to Sri Lanka’s democratic institutions began to occur. The first move was by Prime
Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike—widow of Solomon Bandaranaike—when she used
emergency laws in 1973 and 1974 to curb the country’s free press. (Peiris, 2012)

In 1977, when the United National Party came to power, Prime Minister J.R. Jayewardene sought
to become the first executive president and succeeded with unchecked power. In 1980, former
Prime Minister Bandaranaike’s civil rights, including the right to vote and hold elected office, were
revoked. When Jayewardene was reelected for a second term in 1982, significant turmoil could be
seen, including the 1983 ethnic pogrom against the Tamils, leading to the emergence of the Tamil
Tigers in the North and an insurgency in the South.

On the contrary, former President Chandrika Kumaratunga introduced the 17th Amendment to the
Constitution establishing a Constitutional Council to limit presidential power, paved the way for
independent commissions, and marked a green light for Democracy.

Mahinda Rajapaksa succeeded Kumaratunga, and in the aftermath of the defeat of the Tamil Tigers
in 2009 and after winning a second term in office in September 2010, Rajapaksa moved to remove
all the barriers to secure his power in an authoritarian model of governance. The Constitutional
Council and independent commissions were overturned or had their powers truncated, and the
limit on two presidential terms was abolished by the 18th Amendment to the Constitution.
Rajapaksa became an evil of democracy proving the famous statement by Lord Acton; “power
corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

However, being fed up with the Rajapaksa regime, the civil societies together with the opposition
parties united for a common candidate to represent themselves with the slogan “Good Governance”
and accordingly, former President Maithripala Sirisena came into power and attempted for a more
democratic way of governance through the 19th Amendment to the Constitution.
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3. THE MILESTONES AFTER 2015

3.1 The Constitutional Coup (2018)

Despite the very principles Sirisena ought to rely on, he appointed the same Mahinda
Rajapaksa as the prime minister in 2018 as a result of a constitutional coup. The said erroneous
appointment was subsequently rectified by the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka. It was a landmark
in the history of the rule of law and independent judiciary.

3.2 The Easter Sunday attacks and the Politics associated with it. (2019)

The Sirisena-Wickramasinghe regime was losing its trustworthiness throughout its term and a
tragic event happened in April 2019 on Easter Sunday. Hundreds of people were killed and
another hundreds of people were injured from the bomb attacks alleged to be caused by a group
of extremists. The crux of democracy; freedom and equality were challenged in that way.
Consequently, Gotabaya Rajapaksa declared his candidacy for Presidency in the Presidential
election-2019, proceeded with his campaign successfully, and won the election which was
considered a “victory of the Sinhala Buddhist majority.” (Foizee, 2019)

3.3 People’s Uprising (2022)

Nevertheless, Gotabaya had to resign from office as a response to the peaceful struggle
popularly known as the Galle Face Aragalaya led by public aggression and the economic
downfall created due to the mismanagement of the government headed by him. Thousands of
people gathered in Colombo on 09th July 2022, proved the famous saying, “unity is strength”
and provided a live demonstration of Article 3 of the Constitution of Sri Lanka; “In the
Republic of Sri Lanka sovereignty is in the People and is inalienable.”
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3.4 The aftermath of Aragalaya-2022

As such, the citizens were able to challenge the power of the political class with a vision for
change but it did not move beyond the intention of eradicating the Rajapaksa cartel. The elite
political class was initially shaken but under the leadership of Ranil Wickremasinghe, it
successfully re-captured the commanding heights of political power. On the other hand, “the
Aragalaya itself began to disintegrate into various groups giving the much-needed breathing
space for a renewed counter-democratic backlash by the government.” (Uyangoda, 2022)

Wickremesinghe shamelessly called the Aragalaya activists “fascists” and/or “anarchists”

who destroy Sri Lanka’s parliamentary democracy, and repressed them using emergency
laws and Prevention of Terrorism Act. He quickly reconfirmed that he belonged to the same
old regime. To counter the challenge of the Aragalaya, he established a tripartite power
bloc; the executive led by him, the legislature dominated by the Rajapaksa team, and the
national security establishment. In short, Sri Lanka is now experiencing the continuation of
the old process of elite-led democratic backsliding. It can be categorically seen that our
country has been ruled by a set of oligarchs throughout history up until now i.e., 2023.

4. “DEMOCRACY’S THIRD WAVE” IN THE SRI LANKAN CONTEXT

According to Huntington, the factors that contributed to the third wave of democracy (1974-2001)
were performance legitimacy, unprecedented global economic growth, a striking shift in the
doctrine and activities of the catholic church, changes in policies of external factors, and
snowballing. After reading Huntington’s article, it can be observed that democracy’s inability,
reverse snowballing, etc. can be potential causes for a new reverse wave which is a time period
where countries detach from democratic governing models.

He has identified Sri Lanka as a second-wave backslider that failed to re-democratise inter alia
due to the executive presidency and the decline of voter participation. (Wickramasinge, 2022)
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However, the one-dimensional view of Huntington which was put forward in the year 1991, cannot
be applied to the present Sri Lankan context as it is such a complex state that is prevalent in the
fcurrent Sri Lanka. Nevertheless, as already encapsulated in this essay, when the Aragalaya-2022
happened, people were actively participating in a democratic way to show their dissent towards
the government. People even came forward with novel models of governance as “People’s
Councils.” The Galle Face premises presented a multicultural model and the dream “State” of the
youth.

5. THE WAY FORWARD

According to Prof. Jayadeva Uyangoda; Sri Lanka’s politics is at a crossroads. One path opened
before the people is that of re-democratisation… The other path takes forward the project of
illiberal authoritarianism of the established political class. The driving force that wants to take Sri
Lanka along the first path are the non-elite and subordinate social classes. The other path has been
the choice of the country’s dominant political elites since the late 1970s. These two path choices
also represent the two starkly contrasting political futures for Sri Lanka and its people. (Uyangoda,
2022)

6. CONCLUSION

It can be concluded that Sri Lanka’s path out of the democratic decline depends on the citizens.;
…the path of re-democratisation available at the present juncture remains somewhat blurred…
Moreover, there is no clarity about the future shape of the re-democratisation option even among
the faithful. In other words, those who are generally described as democratic forces are deeply
divided about their own democratic goals and agendas. They show no shared understanding of
what kind of democracy they represent or fight for. (Uyangoda, 2022)

Accordingly, it is clear that the citizens’ movement must evolve into an organized political entity
with a shared understanding irrespective of their political indifferences in order to build up “The
Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka” as stipulated in the Constitution.
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References

Foizee, B. (2019). Sri Lanka's Election Results Reveal a Divided Country. Retrieved 10 15, 2023,
from https://thediplomat.com/2019/12/sri-lankas-election-results-reveal-a-divided-
country

Huntington, S. (1991). Democracy's Third Wave. Journal of Democracy, 12-34. Retrieved from
https://www.ned.org/docs/Samuel-P-Huntington-Democracy-Third-Wave.pdf

Peiris, S. (2012). Sri Lanka’s Ongoing Struggle for Democracy. Asia Pacific Bulletin. Retrieved
10 18, 2023, from https://www.eastwestcenter.org/publications/sri-lankas-ongoing-
struggle-democracy

The constitution of the Democratic Republic of Sri Lanka. (n.d.).

Uyangoda, J. (2022). Bringing Democracy back through people’s power. Retrieved from
https://groundviews.org/2022/08/16/bringing-democracy-back-through-peoples-power

Wickramasinge, S. (2022, 04 16). Sri Lanka facing a democratic backsliding? Retrieved 10 20,
2023, from https://www.themorning.lk/articles/198628