by Ruana Rajepakse

With the Government commanding 144 seats in the 225 seat Parliament, the Opposition has to look to talent rather than numbers to make an impact.

The Government, which fought the election with the stated goal of winning a two-thirds majority and amending the Constitution, has fallen just six seats short and may be hoping for a few defections.

Thus the first task of the Opposition, if it is to maintain its credibility with the electorate, is to close ranks and make it quite clear that there will be no such defections. A Government does not need a two-thirds majority to govern well, or even to enact new laws that are consistent with the Constitution. Furthermore, any amendments to the Constitution that are perceived to be for the common good can be passed with the cooperation of the Opposition.

The Opposition should not betray the people who put them into Parliament. If those people had wanted to vote for the Government they could have done so. No government can please everybody, and it is in the best interests of peace and stability that persons opposed to the Government can find a voice in Parliament rather than going underground.

It should also be remembered that youth unrest reached its peak levels in the late 1980s after the Government of the day misused the two-thirds majority it had got under the old first past the post system to extend the life of the 1977 Parliament for a further six years by means of a referendum. And let us not forget that its predecessor took two more years than the allotted five with its two thirds majority saying it had lost those years due to the previous 1971 insurrection.

One of the recommendations of the Presidential Commission on Youth Unrest that was appointed by President Ranasinghe Premadasa in 1989 was the removal of anomalies which give short-term advantages to the ruling party, such as cross-overs. One might add that the essence of proportional representation is that the balance of power in Parliament should reflect as nearly as possible the way the people voted.

The quality of an Opposition does not depend on numbers. As observed in this column last week, the preference vote proved to be a great leveler on both sides of the House, with more than 60 new MPs entering the Parliament at the expense of veterans.

However, while many of the new faces on the Government side comprise next of kin of retiring or serving politicians, the newcomers to the Opposition ranks include a number of young and not-so-young MPs who were well-known personalities in their own right before entering Parliament.

Examples include popular educationist Mohan Lal Grero; beauty queen, business woman and former High Commissioner to Malaysia Rosy Senanayake; TV talk show hosts J. Sri Ranga and Buddhika Pathirana; and educated teledrama actress Upeksha Swarnamalie, one of the youngest MPs, who got 81,350 votes in the highly competitive Gampaha District, ahead of party stalwarts Karu Jayasuriya, Jayalath Jayawardena and John Amaratunga.

Among the Opposition veterans of the last Parliament special mention should be made of Sajit Premadasa (Hambantota) and Thalatha Athukorale (Ratnapura).

Premadasa, despite his famous name, did not chose the easy way into politics from his late father’s electorate in Colombo Central, but built his own support base in Hambantota where he has managed to co-exist with Sri Lanka’s currently most powerful political family, while carving out his own support base.

If they do not know it already, his party leadership should be made aware that in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami, when the then government’s relief efforts were looking particularly directionless, displaced residents along the southern coast carried placards in Sinhala saying “Come back Premadasa, we need you now” – a reference to senior Premadasa’s proven ability to provide housing for the poor, efficiently and fast.

Sajit Premadasa has the ideal South Asian political combination of personal dynamism and a famous name, and his party would be foolish not to take this into account.

Meanwhile, Thalatha Athukorale became the only woman to top a District preference list for any party, at an election that saw the number of successful women candidates drop when compared to the 2004 poll.

Incidentally, Ratnapura and Gampaha were the only Districts that saw women elected to both sides of the House, with Pavithra Wanniarachchi (Ratnapura) and Dr. Sudharshini Fernandopulle (Gampaha) being the successful Government candidates.

Prior to the poll a cross-party appeal was made by a number of women politicians for more preference votes to go to women, but since that call has not been heeded there seems to be no remedy except affirmative action through the law. This has been the case in most countries, and perhaps the women in this Parliament could form a caucus to get such a measure passed.

If they succeed, they will not only further the cause of women in politics but also give a salutary message of cross-party cooperation to their male colleagues.

The only two members of the last Parliament who crossed from Government to Opposition, namely President’s Counsel Wijayadasa Rajapaksha, and World Cup winning cricket captain Arjuna Ranatunga are back in Parliament through the votes of the people, thereby showing that principled action can brings rewards.

The National Lists of the Opposition parties have also seen the entry of some new faces to politics such as economist and TV personality Dr. Harsha de Silva (UNF), and enigmatic businessman Tiran Alles (DNA) who was considered important enough to attract a bomb attack on his house during the last presidential election although he was not even a candidate.

However one is surprised at the omission of the main Opposition party to nominate Rukman Senanayake from that party’s National List. Not only is he a party stalwart and veteran parliamentarian who could have provided useful guidance to the newcomers, but his name alone conjures up the glory days of the UNP which modern voters may have forgotten after 14 years of UPFA rule.

An active, talented and cohesive Opposition is an essential tool of good governance, apart from giving that Opposition the best chance of becoming electable at the next poll.