Post-Parliamentary Election in Sri Lanka: A Historical Shift

• The National People’s Power (NPP) won the parliamentary polls with a significant majority.

• The election significantly changed the political landscape in Sri Lanka, with the 225-member Parliament being cleansed.

• The main opposition, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), was reduced to 40 seats (17.7% votes).

• The main Tamil voice, Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), was reduced to eight seats (2.3% votes).

• Three women from the hill country Tamil community were elected.

• The historic election is comparable to the 1977 election, where the right-wing UNP government of J.R. Jayewardene came to power with a five-sixths majority in Parliament.

• The NPP and the JVP have been waiting for three decades to change the country’s political and economic history.

• The NPP became the first national party to win both electoral districts in the Northern Province, a historically stronghold of Tamil nationalist politics.

• The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam decimated Tamil political leadership, leading to the resurgence of diaspora-financed parties.

• The NPP’s victory signifies that people in the north share many of the challenges faced by the rest of the country.