Five months in, Sri Lanka’s NPP faces test in local polls

Today, Sri Lanka is electing members to 341 local bodies across the country, including 29 municipal councils, 36 urban councils and 276 pradeshiya sabhas. True to pattern, the electoral outcome is highly likely to be pro-incumbency, though showing a dent in the ruling bloc’s popularity.

The National People’s Power (NPP) alliance has reasons to worry about a loss of support just five months after securing a history-making super-majority at the November parliamentary elections. While no government can retain that first flush of electoral approval, the government has cause for concern. The increasing public disenchantment is so palpable that President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, while addressing the NPP’s May Day rally in Colombo, appealed to the people and trade unions for more time to deliver on electoral promises…..| read more on The New Indian Express