The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) is contesting the local government elections in Sri Lanka to be held on May 6, fielding 13 and 21 candidates respectively for the Karainagar Divisional Council in the northern war-ravaged Jaffna district and Kolonnawa Urban Council in the suburbs of Colombo.
The SEP has held a series of election meetings on April 27 in Oori village, Karainagar; on April 26 in Matara in southern Sri Lanka; on April 9 in Colombo; and on April 7 in Jaffna. Our final event—an open-air meeting near Bank of Ceylon premises—is scheduled for Saturday, May 3 in Kolonnawa.
Kolonnawa is one of the densely populated local council areas located near Colombo city center. According to statistics issued in 2024, it has an estimated population of 204,484 or over 8 percent of the Colombo District’s total population of 2.46 million.
The area is home to public sector workers, daily wage workers, small traders and other impoverished people. It has many industrial and commercial buildings, including stores, warehouses, container yards, tea-packaging factories and state-owned electricity and petroleum facilities.
Karainagar is one of the small islands surrounding the predominantly-Tamil Jaffna Peninsula. It was devastated by the 26-year long communal war waged from 1983 against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). As a result, its population has dropped precipitously to 10,500 from around 80,000 in the 1970s.
Members and supporters of the SEP and the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) have campaigned in recent weeks across Sri Lanka for a socialist program against imperialist war, austerity and dictatorial forms of rule.
During our discussions, people have repeatedly complained about the impact of the government’s austerity measures, dictated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The ruling Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna/National People’s Power (JVP/NPP) government has broken the promises during last year’s presidential and parliamentary elections to improve living conditions.
A trishaw driver, who lives in Meethotamulla, said: “My daily earnings are not steady—sometimes I earn 2,500 rupees [$US8.40] and some days nothing.” He noted that the JVP/NPP also “is going by the IMF program, but they earlier said they would not accept the IMF.”
The JVP/NPP had dumped its posturing as a party of the poor, and was now working “to defend the capitalist property system,” he said. “There must be a system to solve these problems. A new party must come.”
A youth from Meethotamulla spoke about his frustration at the lack of jobs. He is currently taking a course related to the hotel industry and aims to migrate to Germany. Campaigners explained what it was like in Germany: cuts on social welfare, the rise of far-right forces, huge government spending on the military and the growing threat of a third world war.
“I am against wars. I actually want to stay in this country. Our parents and relatives are here,” he explained, adding that life in other countries was not rosy. “I thought about leaving because of the economic situation in our country, and because of the job problems… [In Meethotamulla], young people have no jobs, no way to get an education and no money to pay for courses. Their hopes are dashed.”
The SEP has campaigned at the Sanhinda Sevana flats near the Kolonnawa city center. Sanhinda Sevana is an 11-storey building with 240 flats, each just 42 square metres. These have been provided for poor families from Colombo city, forced out of their homes to make way for urban development to attract wealthy investors.
The Urban Development Authority (UDA) is responsible for these flats, but does not maintain them adequately: waste disposal is not done properly, the lifts always break down and noise levels are high due to poor design. Many people said they lost their jobs after being compelled to move.
Colombo port worker Asgar criticised the JVP/NPP: “Before coming to power, it spoke on the side of the poor people and joined the protests. Now, it is on the other side [the rich] acting against those poor people.”
The worker opposed the police arrest and detention of Mohamed Rusdi, a 22-year-old Muslim youth, for pasting a sticker at a shopping center opposing Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza. He condemned the US role in the Gaza genocide, saying “due to America, Palestinians suffer at the hand of Israel who does not care about lives of the people. It is clear that an anti-war movement is essential.”
Asgar also expressed concern over the growing threat of war in the region. “[India] is trying to become the regional power with the support of America. If the Indus River is blocked, many people [in Pakistan] will lose electricity and water, which will cause great destruction,” he said. India withdrew from the Indus Water Treaty with Pakistan following the April 22 terror attack in Indian-held Kashmir.
“Despite the fact that America has caused so many disasters, the Sri Lankan [JVP/NPP] government has embraced American imperialism,” he added.
The SEP has also campaigned among plantation workers in the Hatton and Maskeliya areas in central Sri Lanka, where skyrocketing prices have created intolerable living conditions. Many workers said that they voted for the JVP/NPP in last year’s general elections, expecting some change for the better. Now the situation has only worsened.
The workers were hostile to the traditional parties and also the plantation unions, which function as political parties, such as the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), Up-Country People’s Front (UPF) and National Union of Workers (NUW).
V. Alaki, 52, a female plantation worker from the Brunswick estate Maskeliya, said: “[We] find it very difficult to live, with a 1,350 rupee daily wage under this cost of living. Even to get this wage, we have to fulfill our target of plucking 18kg tea leaves per day. Under these intolerable conditions, I am compelled to get early retirement.”
Another worker recalled the fascistic terror campaign waged by the JVP during 1987–1990, killing workers, trade unionists and political opponents. “Many tea and rubber factories were burned by the JVP,” he said. “During the daytime we cooked meals at the house and after dinner we went into hiding among tea bushes and bunkers that were made by our parents.” He did not vote for the JVP/NPP.
Shanmugam Sellamuthu, a 76-year-old woman from Karainagar, explained that her family was affected by the war, when the government launched a massive military operation in 1991 to capture the area.
“At that time, our family fled and stayed in the village of Moolai, which lies beyond the Karainagar island. My son, Sakthivel, was 18-years-old then and was studying at a technical college. He left Moolai to bring his elder uncle and aunt from Karainagar. However, before he could return, the military had captured Karainagar.”
A few days later, Sellamuthu’s family found through a message from the Red Cross that the military arrested their son along with many other young men.
“Since that day, we have been searching for him in many places, including all the military camps. But we have not found my son,” she said. “We had three daughters and only one son [who is missing].” She said many young men were simply shot by the military.