Former Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ravi Karunanayake is one politician who is the object of hate and ridicule on social media because he parachuted himself into the new parliament, with almost no one knowing how he managed to!
In Sri Lanka, like in many other democracies, contesting a seat is not the only way to enter parliament. Of course, one way is to win a seat in a contest. Another is to be nominated by the political party that one belongs to. This is termed the national list.
The national list is based on the percentage of votes that a party manages to garner in the parliamentary election. In all, there are 29 MPs nominated by political parties to parliament via the national list route. The New Democratic Front (NDF), headed by former President Ranil Wickremesinghe, can nominate two MPs to parliament because it received just over five lakh votes in the election.
Only three candidates put up by the Front managed to win their seats. The NDF was formed as an alliance of the United National Party (UNP), the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, the People’s Alliance, the New Alliance, and the Podujana Eksath Nidahas Peramuna (PENP).
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Karunanayake’s plan was simple: get the authorised person in charge of sending the national list to the Election Commission (EC) to include his name. In fact, the general secretary of the NDF did one better—she sent only one name to the Election Commission. Though there was an outburst by members of the NDF, the Sri Lankan Election Commission said that it was accepting the nomination because the requirements under law were met. The EC gazetted a notification naming him to parliament on November 18. (The general secretary of the party later claimed that the nomination was done after taking consent from NDF partners.)
On November 20, the NDF set up a four-member committee to enquire into the nomination. Wickremesinghe, who presided over the meeting in which the decision was made, criticised the manner in which the nomination was made. The committee will submit its report in three weeks.
Wickremesinghe claimed that he had no knowledge of the development and convened a meeting of allies to discuss the issue. The UNP repeatedly refuted the claims that the move had the blessings of the former President. On November 22, UNP Chairperson Wajira Abeywardana described the general secretary’s decision to send the letter to the Election Commission as “arbitrary”.
Karunanayake attended parliament on November 21, the day all MPs were sworn in, and claimed that his nomination was in order. He told press persons that there were a few within the party who were creating trouble, and he was focused on rebuilding the party, the UNP. “The party should not suffer for a few people,” he said.
There has been a barrage of criticism. “The opposition has failed to realise that the mandate to govern and give a fresh start to politics in Sri Lanka has been granted not only to the NPP, but to them as well,” noted a Sri Lankan lawyer on the social media platform X. “The sooner the right-wing opposition realises this, the better for the nation,” he added.
Another user, Sunil Tantirige, a Canada-based writer, noted that “after two elections, in which the winning theme was ending corruption, UNP nominates Ravi Karunanayake from the national list. Just shows you how out of touch the great leader is. Only people he can see are his friends”. Tantirige implied that the move could not have been done without former President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s knowledge and consent.
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Earlier, in August 2017, Karunanayake was forced to resign from his post as Foreign Minister amid allegations of receiving financial benefits from a company involved in a bond scam. The investigation into the scam is still ongoing. At that time, he feigned ignorance regarding how his rent was paid. This incident led to significant public and political scrutiny, with many calling for his resignation due to perceived conflicts of interest.
The NDF, which can nominate a second MP, is yet to decide on a name. In 2020, after Wickremesinghe’s political party, the United National Party, was routed in the polls and did not win a single seat, the party had the choice to nominate one person to parliament. Wickremesinghe did not nominate anyone for the longest time and had asserted that he would not nominate himself to parliament. He later nominated himself after a section of the UNP broke away and formed the Samagi Jana Balawegaya.
This time, he announced ahead of the elections that he would not contest. But he has said nothing about not nominating himself to parliament yet. There is a demand within the NDF that former Minister and MP Kanchana Wijesekera, who contested and lost the south Sri Lanka seat of Matara, should be given the second national list seat.
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