Maithripala Sirisena, the ‘common opposition’ candidate was elected President on the 8th of January 2015. His election ushered in a new government with an ambitious ‘100-day plan’ focused primarily on governance reforms and economic relief measures.
To track progress on these promises Verité Research’s parliamentary monitoring platform, manthri.lk unveiled a manifesto tracker titled the ‘maithrimeter’ (http://www.manthri.lk/si/maithrimeter). Reaching the completion of one year into President Sirisena’s term it is an important time to look back at the promises made and see which ones were completed, are still in progress, or forgotten.
The maithrimeter shows that weighted by significance that just under half of the programme has been completed to date with some key promises yet pending. The table below organises 17 key promises into four categories ‘no progress’, ‘poor progress’, ‘good progress’, and ‘complete’ to help chart the differing degrees of completion the promises have seen.
|
No Progress |
Poor Progress |
Good Progress |
Completed |
|
Standing orders of parliament to be amended |
Cabinet to be appointed (max. 25 ministers) – Constitutional limit of 30 passed, excluding national governments |
Abolish executive presidency - 19th Amendment passed |
Establishment of Constitutional Council |
|
Ethical Code of Conduct |
Anti-corruption- Special Commissions to Investigate Corruption Established |
|
"Mini-budget" to reduce the Cost of Living |
|
National Audit Bill |
Adoption of New Electoral System |
|
State Sector Salaries to be increased |
|
|
Right to Information Bill – approved by cabinet
|
|
Establishment of Independent Commissions |
|
|
|
|
Adoption of National Drugs Policy
|
Accordingly, the establishment of the Constitutional Council, the passing of the “Mini-Budget” to reduce the cost of living, increase of state sector salaries, establishment of Independent Commissions and the adoption of a National Drug Policy are all promises that have been “Completed”. In addition, the promise to abolish the executive presidency has shown “Good Progress” through the re-introduction of term limits and reduction of some presidential powers via the passing of the 19th amendment.
Promises made to appoint a cabinet with a maximum of 25 ministers, establish Special Commissions to Investigate Corruption, adopt a new electoral system and pass the Right to Information Bill have shown “Poor Progress”. Meanwhile, promises made to amend the Standing Orders of Parliament, introduce an Ethical Code of Conduct and pass a National Audit Bill have shown “No Progress”.
Finally, on the day marking a year since Maithripala Sirisena was elected president (January 8), revisiting his promises is important to reflect on progress made and to ensure that campaign promises eventually translate into action.
