ELECTIONS WERE A TEST FOR JVP'S COMMITMENT TO DEMOCRACY, AND IT PASSED

For those of us who held reservations about the NPP government, one of the greatest concerns was that the 2024 election, which swept to power, could well be the last free and fair election in the country.

- By Ranga Jayasuriya

That is not an unfounded fear, as the experience in many countries, where political fundamentalists or the militant left had won national power, has almost uniformly revealed.

That brings forth the less-talked-about question. Many observers described the election as the first test of the NPP's popularity. But it was more than that. It was first and foremost a test of the NPP's commitment to multiparty democracy, which, I must now concede, the JVP had passed with flying colours.

No matter who wins, the 339 local government bodies that went to the polls yesterday, the election was a victory for democracy. Again, imagine the opposite, which is not farfetched given how the JVP-affiliated unions run student councils in public universities, and you realise the relief the detractors of the government would feel. That should, however, not be a case for complacency, for the rot sets over time.

The election was overwhelmingly peaceful, and there were even fewer incidents of overt and covert abuse of state property to influence the voting, which was a major concern in the Presidential Election of 2024. The election commission reports it had received 4628 complaints of election violence during the period from March 20 to May 4. Thirty-five incidents are classified as related to violence, 4284 as violations of election laws and 309 as other.