COLOMBO Sri Lankans lined up before polling stations opened on Wednesday, wearing masks and social distancing, to elect a new parliament that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa hopes will clear the way for him to boost his powers.
The tourism-dependent island nation of 21 million people has been struggling since deadly militant attacks on hotels and churches last year, claimed by Islamic State, followed painful lockdowns to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Rajapaksa is seeking a two-thirds majority for his party in the 225-member parliament to enable constitutional reforms to make the presidency more powerful so he can implement his economic and national security agenda.
Polls opened at 7 a.m. (0130 GMT).
Election officials wore transparent face shields while medical personnel were deployed to ensure voters kept strict rules to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
“There will be no chance of you getting infected by the coronavirus at polling stations,” said the chairman of the Election Commission, Mahinda Deshapriya.
“The polling station is safer than the beach, the restaurant and the marketplace, it’s totally corona free.”
Sri Lanka had reported 2,828 cases of the coronavirus and 11 deaths as of Tuesday, which is small compared with other South Asian countries.
Rajapaksa, who was elected president in November, has claimed credit for controlling the outbreak with strict lockdowns.
He is hoping to install his older brother and former president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, as prime minister.
The brothers built their political careers as nationalist champions of the majority Sinhalese, Buddhist, community.
They are best known for crushing ethnic minority Tamil separatist insurgents who battled for decades for a homeland in the island’s north and east.
The 26-year civil war ended in 2009 when the elder Rajapaksa was president amid allegations of torture and killings of civilians in the final stages of the conflict.
Since then, governments led by the brothers’ opponents have sought to reduce the power of the president to prevent abuses and instead strengthen independent commissions appointed by parliament.
But Gotabaya Rajapaksa said he has felt hobbled since he took over as president.
“I need power to implement my economic programme which you voted for,” he told supporters last week.
The leader of the main opposition party is Sajit Premadasa, the son of Ranasinghe Premadasa, who was assassinated while president by a Tamil suicide bomber in 1993.
Premadasa’s party has warned of the risk of autocracy if the presidency is invested with more powers.
Votes are to be counted on Thursday and the results should be known that day.
(Writing by Sanjeev Miglani; Editing by Robert Birsel)
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