Rajapaksa's comeback 'would be bad for Sri Lanka'

Sri Lanka's parliamentary elections have been billed as a referendum on ex-President Mahinda Rajapaksa's comeback bid. His main rival - 63-year-old Maithripala Sirisena - was elected in January and has been campaigning to reach out to minorities, who make up about a quarter of the population. He called elections early in a bid to increase his power to pass reforms.

In an interview with DW, Sri Lankan sociologist Rohini Hensman said that the voting was largely peaceful in Monday's elections but the voters did not come out in big numbers as many were expecting. The results of the elections will determine whether Sri Lanka has moved forward on the path to sustainable democracy or has slipped back, she said.

DW: How do you view the voting process today? Was the turnout satisfactory?

Rohini Hensman: The reports suggest that the turnout was much lower than January's presidential election. That is a pity because this was a very crucial election.

Why are these elections so crucial for Sri Lanka's democratic future?

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa has campaigned on an explicitly anti-minority platform. Given that Sri Lanka has just gone through a 25-year-long ethnic war with the loss of over 100,000 lives, a win for him would not bode well for the reconciliation process, which is absolutely necessary for the country's democratic future. Therefore, it would be good if the voters reject him.

Rajapaksa also presided over an extremely corrupt government, which enriched his family at the cost of impoverishing a vast majority in Sri Lanka and indebting the country heavily.

Could Rajapaksa really win the polls?

The electoral picture has become complicated due to the fact that the other contender for the prime minister's post, Ranil Wickremesinghe, was part of the earlier United National Party governments that orchestrated massacres of first Tamils and then Sinhalese. He is also associated with unpopular neoliberal policies, and it is likely that, due to the lack of a better alternative, people would vote for Rajapaksa.

However, many within Rajapaksa's own party are opposed to his becoming prime minister, so it is unlikely that he will win the polls. As the January presidential elections showed, he is not the choice of the whole country but only of a section of the Sinhalese electorate, so a win for him would be bad for the country as a whole.

How do you look at President Maithripala Sirisena's reconciliation efforts so far?

He has taken some much-needed steps, such as the moves to restore land to Tamils who have been ethnically cleansed from their homes and livelihoods. And there have not been state-sponsored attacks on minorities as there were on Muslims under Rajapaksa. A great deal more remains to be done, however. The truth about enforced disappearances, extra-judicial killings and what happened at the end of the war should be made known.

Did the January presidential election herald an end to ethnic tensions in Sri Lanka?

The presidential election opened up an opportunity to end ethnic tensions in Sri Lanka, which had been impossible under Rajapaksa. This opening needs to be followed up if ethnic tensions are to end. This requires work not only to combat Sinhalese nationalism but also to combat the remnants of Tamil nationalism, not to mention religious discrimination in all parts of the country. The end of ethnic tensions is still a long way off.

Is Sri Lanka finally moving toward sustainable democracy?

I certainly hope so. As I said earlier, the results of these parliamentary elections will show whether Sri Lanka has moved forward on the path to an all-inclusive, sustainable democracy or has slipped back. Only a sustained effort on the part of both political practices and society as a whole will ensure an inclusive democracy.

Rohini Hensman is an India-based Sri Lankan sociologist. She is a human rights activist involved in minority and women's rights campaigns. She has published two novels, one set in Mumbai and the other, entitled '"Playing Lions and Tigers,'"in Sri Lanka.