Sri Lanka in 2020: Return to Rajapaksa Regnum

Abstract

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his brother Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa set in motion a process aimed at consolidating their family's control of the executive, cabinet, and legislature. The global coronavirus pandemic gave them an opportunity to further militarize the administration of the country. The ruling party, the Sri Lanka People's Front, won a two-thirds majority in the parliamentary elections, which allowed them to enact decisive constitutional change and overturn crucial legislation that curbed the power of the executive. The government's ability to withstand the economic crisis and control the pandemic will be key to their complete blunting of any opposition forces.