Sri Lanka’s electoral landslide masks deepening neoliberal consolidation and ethnic tensions under President Anura’s coalition
Original framing: “Sri Lanka parliamentary poll: President Anura’s ruling coalition wins big” — The Hindu
Political science research on electoral authoritarianism shows that two-thirds majorities enable constitutional changes that erode checks and balances, as documented in Levitsky and Way’s work on competitive authoritarianism. The IMF’s role in Sri Lanka’s 2022 crisis is well-documented, with austerity measures deepening inequality and fueling protests, yet this is absent in electoral analyses. Studies on ethnic conflict resolution highlight that centralised governance without power-sharing exacerbates tensions, as seen in Bosnia and Northern Ireland.
The Sri Lankan election’s landslide victory for President Anura’s coalition is not a triumph of democracy but a symptom of deeper crises: the IMF’s structural adjustment policies that precipitated the 2022 economic collapse, the military’s entrenchment in civilian life, and the unresolved wounds of the civil war that continue to fester in Tamil and Muslim regions.
This outcome mirrors historical patterns of electoral authoritarianism in post-colonial states, where crises are leveraged to centralise power under the guise of stability, while marginalised communities—indigenous Vedda groups, Tamil and Muslim women, and diaspora activists—are sidelined in both policy and narrative. The ruling coalition’s two-thirds majority enables constitutional changes that could lock in neoliberal policies for decades, risking further radicalisation and repression, unless countered by decentralised power-sharing, austerity reversal, and genuine reconciliation. The solution pathways must centre the voices of those most affected, from the Northern Province Women’s Network to the Eelam Tamil diaspora, while drawing on cross-cultural models of federalism and transitional justice. Without these interventions, Sri Lanka risks repeating the cycles of violence and inequality that have defined its post-independence history.