Majority of Sri Lankans lose confidence in political leadership – poll
While Sri Lanka experienced the worst economic crisis in 2022, data reveals that a majority of citizens have lost confidence in the country’s political leadership. Although 39.5 per cent of Sri Lankans experienced no change and 11.1 per cent experienced an increase in confidence in the political leadership as a result of the crisis, 49.5 per cent of Sri Lankans experienced a decrease in confidence.
This reveals that the crisis had a substantial effect on Sri Lankan’s confidence in the political leadership and indicates a sense of disappointment and disillusionment among many Sri Lankans that needs to be addressed.
A snapshot survey of Sri Lanka’s 2022 crisis and social cohesion divulged this data based on responses to six survey questions from a nationally representative sample of 1,018 individuals aged 18 years and above. Sri Lanka Barometer 2021 and 2022 reports were launched last Monday at the Taj Samudra Hotel in Colombo. It was implemented by the Strengthening Reconciliation Processes in Sri Lanka (SRP) and jointly funded by the EU and the German Federal Foreign Office and implemented by GIZ.
The report findings show that the crisis motivated 50.3 per cent of Sri Lankans to become more politically engaged while 26.2 per cent disengaged. For just over half of Sri Lankans, the worsening situation presented a call to action to participate more actively in the democratic process.
While a majority of Sri Lankans (64.2 per cent) felt represented in the Aragalaya the findings also demand caution around a general notion of unity associated with the movement. Facts show that people from the Sinhalese community felt more represented (66.7 per cent) than people from the Tamil (52.9 per cent) or Muslim (52.3 per cent) communities, indicating that a nuanced understanding of the Aragalaya needs to be cultivated as it may have been a people’s movement for some more than for others.
The survey also highlighted, around one third of Sri Lankans (32.4 per cent) believed that inter-ethnic relationships improved as a result of the crisis. Most Sri Lankans believed that relationships stayed the same (56 per cent) and some believed that they had gotten worse (11.6 per cent). This indicates that while the impact of the crisis may have momentarily transcended historical divisions, inter-ethnic relationships require longer term engagement to create meaningful connections and change.
Majority of Sri Lankans agreed that the crisis has shown the importance of addressing the past injustices suffered by ethnic minorities (59.1 per cent). While agreement levels have been higher among Muslims (72.3 per cent) and Tamils (70.9 per cent) still more than half of the Sinhalese community (56.6 per cent) agreed that the crisis has shown the importance of addressing past injustices suffered by ethnic minorities which is encouraging in a society where grievances from different social groups remain prevalent.
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