The only local government institution that the JVP has won in the history of local government in Sri Lanka is the Tissamaharama Pradeshiya Sabha. The JVP won the Tissa Pradeshiya Sabha in the 2002 LG election. By winning Tissa, the JVP showed the country that if the JVP ever formed a government, it would make Tissa the model for that government. At that time, the JVP created news about Tissa and published it in the media. It showed how the Pradeshiya Sabha saves money. It showed how the Pradeshiya Sabha is re-implementing the cooperative system. Sri Lanka Latest News
Winning the Tissa Pradeshiya Sabha was a big victory for the JVP. That was the best time for the JVP. After winning the Tissamaharama Pradeshiya Sabha, the JVP contested the 2004 general election in an alliance with the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. Surprisingly not only to the JVP but the entire country, the JVP got 39 parliamentary seats. JVP Gampaha District candidate Vijitha Herath was number one on the Gampaha preferential list, leaving the Bandaranaikes’ crown prince Anuradha in second place.
Seeing the rise of the JVP, the business community and the diplomatic community in Colombo were afraid. The business people started following the JVP. The diplomatic community was eager to meet the JVP. The business people organized seminars and invited the JVP leaders to give lectures on the economy of Sri Lanka. They were eagerly waiting to hear the JVP lectures. They felt that either the JVP would form the next government or the JVP would become the main opposition in the country.
The next leap taken by the JVP was to defeat Ranil and winning Mahinda in the 2005 presidential election. The JVP led that election campaign for Mahinda. After Mahinda won, everyone thought that Mahinda would rule the country as the JVP wanted. Everyone thought that the JVP would get powerful ministerial positions in Mahinda’s government.
But Mahinda did not give recognition to the JVP. Knowing that Mahinda was plotting to break the JVP, the JVP decided to withdraw from the SLFP alliance and contest the 2006 local government elections alone. The 2006 local government elections were held when the JVP was at its ‘peak’. However, the JVP won only one local government institution. That was the Tissa Pradeshiya Sabha, which it had won in 2002. The JVP fell flat in the 2006 local government elections.
From then on, the JVP’s fall began. When the then opposition leader Ranil joined forces with Mangala, who had left Mahinda’s government, to defeat the budget of Mahinda’s government, the JVP discussed supporting it, but Mahinda split the JVP and broke the JVP-Ranil alliance. Wimal left the JVP. The JVP was divided into two to three fractions and became weak. In the 2011 local government elections, the JVP lost the Tissa Pradeshiya Sabha, which it had won in the 2002 and 2006 local government elections. The JVP fell to third place in the Tissa Pradeshiya Sabha.
The rise and fall of the JVP in Sri Lankan political history is very surprising.
In 1971, the JVP staged a rebellion and rose up, frightening the entire country. The people of Sri Lanka and foreign countries thought that the JVP would seize power. Although the JVP could not seize power, the JVP emerged as a major political force in the country. But the JVP wave did not last long. After suppressing the rebellion, the JVP was subdued. After that, the JVP contested the 1982 presidential election and became a weak party by winning more than 200,000 votes. The JVP’s dream of seizing power through democratic elections was shattered in the 1982 presidential election.
The JVP rose again in 1988. That was due to the anti-India sentiment that was created in the country after the 1987 Indo-Lanka Agreement. During 88-89, the JVP ruled the country with a piece of paper. The people understood that the day when the JVP would seize power was not far off. But two years later, as no one expected, the Premadasa government suppressed the JVP and killed the entire JVP political leaders except for Somawansa.
The JVP did not rise from rock bottom it fell from there for many years. The JVP fell in 1989. The JVP began to rise again with the 2000 general election. After rising with the 2000 general election, the JVP reached the top of the mountain with the 2004 general election. But the JVP spring did not last long. After 2006, the JVP downfall began again.
‘Why is the JVP spring limited to a short period…?’
I don’t know how to say that, but the rise of the JVP is always like a ‘soda’ bottle. The JVP does not rise like other parties rise but like a great cloud.
The JVP rose like that after the 2022 ‘aragalaya’. Before the ‘aragalaya’, people mocked the JVP as a 3% party. But after the struggle, the JVP came like a tsunami.
However, the results of the 2024 presidential election did not show a great wave like the JVP wave. Anura could only get 42%. No president in the history of Sri Lanka’s presidential election has received less than 50% of the votes.
In the 1988 presidential election, Premadasa got 50% of the votes amid the JVP terror. Anura’s mandate was a 42%. It became a great mandate in the 2024 general election. The main reason for this was that the defeated parties hid without challenging the JVP. The Samagi Jana Balawegaya and the Podujana Peramuna also did not conduct a general election campaign but a Pradeshiya Sabha election campaign. The most powerful politicians in Sri Lanka withdrew from the election campaign fearing defeat to save them from the JVP’s great political tsunami. The JVP climbed to the top of the mountain and raised the JVP flag in the 2024 general election.
‘Will that wave also be like the waves of 1971, 1988, 2004..?’
It is impossible to comment exactly. Unlike 1971, 1988, and 2004, today the JVP has the presidency and a two-thirds majority in the government. The presidency and the government will be the strength for the JVP to swim in this wave for a longer while. Otherwise, the presidency and the government itself would be the reason for the end of the JVP wave like in 1971, 1988, and 2004.
