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Posted on August 4th, 2021
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Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu Courtesy The Diplomat COVID-19, an economic crisis, and a majoritarian dynasty at the helm: Sri Lanka’s future hangs in the balance.
Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was swept into power with 6.9 million votes in November 2019 and subsequently saw his party’s control bolstered with a two-thirds majority in Parliament in the general election of August 2020. Yet by the summer of 2021, the popularity of the Rajapaksa presidency and regime is fast eroding. Social media in particular is rife with criticism of the president and his government, and there have been strikes in the health, education, administration, electricity, railways, and plantation sectors in recent months.