State of Democracy: Sri Lanka
An overview of Sri Lankan democracy and its perils after COVID-19, through the use of democratic indicators.
Demographics
Ethnicity in Sri Lanka consists mostly of Sinhalese (74.9 %), followed by Sri Lankan Tamils and Moors. The language spoken officially and nationally is Sinhalese and Tamil. English is a common language as well used for official and governmental purposes, (known as the link language). Buddhism is the most followed religion with 70.2% believers, Hinduism and Islam come next. Sri Lanka has a population of 23,187,516, 41% aged between 25–52 years (The World Factbook). According to the population demographic chart of Sri Lanka, 10–14 and 40–44 aged males and females have the highest population rates, whereas it starts decreasing when pop. starts ageing. Females have a higher living rate if they are older. Having a slightly younger demographic (20–39) serves as a con for the economy and employment of the country, thus being a potential challenge to the democracy.
Sri Lanka is a presidential republic, meaning that there is a president (elected) who is the head of the country. The country was Britain’s colony and got independence in 1948. Their constitution was adopted in 1978 after two-thirds of their parliament voted on the majority of the amendments. There are 3 branches: executive, legislative and judicial. Head of the executive branch is the Sri Lankan president: Ranil Wickremesinghe, who got elected recently in July. The PM’s seat is vacant as of now. The former president had to flee the country because of public protests and after his resignation the parliament elected Wickremesinghe. The legislative branch consists of the whole parliament (225 seats) and the judicial branch which is the Supreme Court (consists of the chief justice and 9 justices). The judge is nominated by the constitutional council. The minimum suffrage in Sri Lanka is 18, and relating back to the age demographic, 25% of the population is younger than the voting age (The World Factbook). This limits valid judgement from more citizens about who to/not to vote for.
Choice of indicators
The figure above shows data from the Happy Planet Index that combines rates of different aspects like well-being, ecological footprint etc as a methodology to value the democracy of a country. Happy Planet ranked Sri Lanka as the 60th happiest country in the world even though well-being was rated 134th out of 152. It has a high happiness score because of the high life expectancy and a low ecological footprint but its data has a very significant limitation. These calculations are from 2019 and during the pandemic, the entirety of Sri Lanka faced an economic and national crisis. To get a better understanding of the recent impacts of this crisis below is a graph (figure 2) of democracy indicators from the IDEA network that highlights the calculated value of these specific attributes. Direct democracy is coloured red because Sri Lanka is a represented democracy where citizens have to vote for elected representatives who then govern the different branches of government. The key indicators here are the lack of corruption and the effectiveness of the parliament. The crisis itself reflects some instability in the government and this can be traced to corruption. The absence of both of these key attributes leads to diminished fundamental rights for the citizens, as seen currently.
State of the Democracy
The main reason for the Sri Lankan crisis is Covid-19, specifically, the decrease in tourism. The country’s GDP was rated -3.6 indicating a recession from previous years (World Bank). The other causes of the economic collapse are the presence of corruption in parts of the government. Corruption also highlights the ineffectiveness of the parliament. Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the former president of the country, and his brother, the president before him, have had corrupt ethics and revenue from taxes that should have been put for infrastructure, health or educational development, was put in the “Pockets of a politically connected, protectionist, and parasitic class of businesspeople” (Arudpragasam). This started the downfall of Sri Lanka’s economy. Covid-19 acted like archduke F.F.’s assassination at the start of WW1, being the light of the match that (metaphorically) set the whole country on fire.
The ineffectiveness and corruption in the parliament caused many citizens to lose their social-fundamental rights. People are facing food insecurities, high prices (hyperinflation), and unavailability of medicine (Sri Lanka Economic). Sri Lanka is already in a lot of foreign debt, with the numbers reaching US$60bn IN 2022 (O’Neill). Neighbouring countries like India and China have provided financial and other aid in the form of food supplies, medicines etc, but not much action was being taken by the government. This affected the well-being of society and caused social unrest, in the form of protests, in the capital city of Colombo. The president has asked for more funds from the IMF and they have agreed to provide US$2.9 billion over the course of 48 months. According to the organisation, “The objectives of Sri Lanka’s new Fund-supported program are to restore macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability, while safeguarding financial stability, protecting the vulnerable, and stepping up structural reforms to address corruption vulnerabilities and unlock Sri Lanka’s growth potential” (IMF). He is also willing to work with ordinary people and wants them to give the new government a chance. After Rajapaksa’s resignation and his fleeing, the country erupted into chaos but just 3 weeks after Wickramasinghe got elected (August 2022) and was in put office, the long queues for fuel vanished, the protesters left, and people started getting adequate food and medicinal supplies (How Sri Lanka). This shows the need and wants for change and support for the citizens, from the citizens. Bit by bit Sri Lanka’s state of emergency is relaxing and tourism is coming back to usual. The silver lining to the last 2 years of chaos: the end of the Rajapaksa presidency and the re-development of Sri Lanka into a better-managed democracy.
Recommendations and Conclusion
This ‘better-managed’ state can only be reached if the problems with corruption and effectiveness are taken care of. The government is working on improving the social rights and basic needs of the people. This can be done in a more organised, long-term way by directing funding towards better-designed policies about food production and projects to increase/maintain poverty. Another recommendation would be tax reforms. While Rajapaksa was in his term, he brought tax cuts that cost the government $1.4bn per annum (Perera). Reverting the tax cuts and having improved ways of collecting it would also ensure a decrease in corruption. In the past, Sri Lanka has had good ideas for social welfare but because of reasons like corruption, they weren’t implemented properly. For eg: The principal social monetary program- ‘Samurdhi’ (meaning prosperity in Sinhala), is considered corrupt, poorly designed and conducted. Only people with political support got their shares hence being deemed corrupt by many (Sri Lanka economic). Most of the solutions that are being recommended relate back to corruption in some way. It can be inferred that corruption had a massive role in declining the country’s democracy. The extent of success in Sri Lankan democracy is not high. Even though the country has a low ecological footprint and good life expectancy, well-being is still a massive issue. If it isn’t improved, the poverty rate will remain high and this will cause an imbalance in society. This can cause more serious problems and possibly trigger another crisis in the long run. The new president has shown and promised change and development for the country, which makes me believe that Sri Lanka has the potential to become the paradise of South Asia once again.
Citations
Arudpragasam, Amita. “How the Rajapaksas Destroyed Sri Lanka’s Economy.” Foreign Policy, 28 Apr. 2022, foreignpolicy.com/2022/04/28/sri-lanka-rajapaksa-protests-economy-corruption/. Accessed 7 Oct. 2022.
“How Sri Lanka’s New President Plans to Revive the Economy.” The Economist, The Economist Newspaper, www.economist.com/asia/2022/08/16/how-sri-lankas-new-president-plans-to-revive-the-economy. Accessed 7 Oct. 2022.
“IMF Staff Reaches Staff-Level Agreement on an Extended Fund Facility Arrangement with Sri Lanka.” IMF, 1 Sept. 2022, www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2022/09/01/pr22295-imf-reaches-staff-level-agreement-on-an-extended-fund-facility-arrangement-with-sri-lanka. Accessed 7 Oct. 2022.
O’Neill, Aaron. “Sri Lanka — National Debt 2027.” Statista, 23 June 2022, www.statista.com/statistics/531949/national-debt-of-sri-lanka/. Accessed 7 Oct. 2022.
Perera, Ayeshea. “Sri Lanka: Why Is the Country in an Economic Crisis?” BBC News, BBC, 14 July 2022, www.bbc.com/news/world-61028138. Accessed 7 Oct. 2022.
“Sri Lanka: Economic Crisis Puts Rights in Peril.” Human Rights Watch, 17 Aug. 2022, www.hrw.org/news/2022/08/16/sri-lanka-economic-crisis-puts-rights-peril. Accessed 7 Oct. 2022.
“The World Bank: GDP Growth (Annual %) — Sri Lanka.” The World Bank, data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.KD.ZG?idc=38&locations=LK. Accessed 7 Oct. 2022.
“The World Factbook: Sri Lanka.” Central Intelligence Agency. 3 Oct. 2022.
www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/sri-lanka. Accessed 7 Oct. 2022.
