By Dilrukshi Handunnetti
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka
A familiar face has entered the political fray as Sri Lanka gears up for a fresh general election next month; that of the controversial former president Mahinda Rajapaksa.
It was only in January that he retreated to his ancestral home in the island's deep south, after being pushed out of office by a surprise, but marginal, defeat to his former cabinet minister Maithripala Sirisena in the presidential election.
A political deadlock over proposed electoral reforms led to the parliament being disbanded last week for elections on August 17 and Rajapaksa quickly responded with an announcement to run for parliament, with the implied aim of becoming prime minister, on Wednesday.
Rajapaksa's announcement that he would "bow to the will of the people" was not, according to some, his first attempted move towards the prime minister's office.
When he lost the presidency he was also replaced as the leader of his Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) by Sirisena but has been rumored to have actively been trying to influence the party to move against the current president.
Rajapaksa has not appeared in active politics but quickly nurtured a strong pressure group to advocate his prospects as a future prime ministerial candidate, as well as agitate against the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, Sirisena’s pet political project which reduced the powers of the executive presidency and restored some powers vested in independent commissions.
The independence of the commissions was effectively reduced by Rajapaksa while he was president, with a 2010 constitutional amendment that also removed the two-term restriction on an executive president.
The group lending support to Rajapaksa, also from the SLFP, the island’s second largest political party, has repeatedly rejected the concept of a unity government that includes more members from the United National Party (UNP) of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who do not have the majority in parliament.
Bad blood
Sirisena defected from Rajapaksa's government last November to run for the presidency, representing a combined opposition, and was elected to power largely with the votes of the UNP and minorities.
Upon his defection, Rajapaksa promptly expelled Sirisena from the party but Sirisena’s electoral victory handed him a way back into the SLFP, as party secretary.
But for the past two months, Rajapaksa has been knocking on the doors of political power with the help of a tight group of loyalists, irked that their party is now led by a president they did not support.
Sirisena attempted to end the disunity by appointing a committee to solve the differences but after a meeting held this week Sirisena agreed only to accommodate Rajapaksa on the SLFP ticket, not to grant the other demand, to field Rajapaksa as the party's prime ministerial candidate.
It appeared to be confirmed on Tuesday, through a cryptic message sent by the Presidential Media Division stating that the “President has not made an agreement with anyone regarding the prime ministerial candidacy.”
A presidential aide told Anadolu Agency: “That would be unnecessary to begin with. The electoral result will show who is best equipped to lead parliament as prime minister.”
Split opinion
The prospect of a Rajapaksa return has split the opinion of Sri Lankan activists and political analysts.
Gamini Viyangoda, a prominent political activist, said there is "no value" in a return for Rajapaksa, a controversial figure accused of corruption, war crimes and running an authoritarian government.
"He is the president who has just been voted out. It would be an insult to democracy to make attempts to bring him back by arm-twisting the president, especially when he is under a serious cloud,” said Viyangoda.
Others argue differently. Dallas Alahapperuma, a Rajapaksa loyalist and former journalist said the SLFP was built into its strong position by Rajapaksa during his tenure as president and party leader.
“In addition to ending the war, he revamped the political party to be the strongest political force in the country and to increase SLFP members in the House. He may have suffered defeat at the presidential election but there is no bar to re-entry into mainstream politics, legally or otherwise,” Alahapperuma told a local radio channel.
A young but active campaigner for Rajapaksa, parliamentarian Manusha Nanayakkara also told Anadolu Agency that there is strong public support for Rajapaksa, who is popular with the majority Sinhala population for presiding over the end of a decades-long civil war with ethnic Tamil separatists in 2009.
“He is a politician who rose from among the masses and established himself as the strongest president in the country. There is value there,” said Nanayakkara.
Rajapaksa’s detractors feel however that it is a ploy to gain public sympathy after coming under scrutiny for his and his family's alleged corruption.
Senior United National Party parliamentarian Lakshman Kiriella called the attempted return a “hasty bid to make a comeback to prevent ongoing corruption probes against family members and aides."
“The Rajapaksas feel the need to be back in power. This is the only way to control and prevent action being eventually taken for the plundering that went on for nearly ten years. There are many who benefited from that system and some of the loudest voices belong to them,” Kiriella said.
Despite the announcement of his political ambition, neither Rajapaksa nor his supporters have confirmed which political party he will run under.
While some believe he will still look for a "proper nod" from the president's camp, others believe he will defect from the SLFP despite the risk of losing the political credibility and backing the party provides.
“We are unable to specify the details at this moment. Suffice to say, Rajapaksa will definitely contest the August 17 general election,” Nanayakkara said.
