Constitutional democracy may be taking knocks across the world thanks to today’s illiberal and populist tide, but it’s far from down and out. The latest evidence of that came from India’s southern neighbour Sri Lanka where Ranil Wickremesinghe was reinstated as Sri Lanka’s prime minister 51 days after he was controversially fired by President Maithripala Sirisena. The latter had replaced Wickremesinghe with former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and had even dissolved the Sri Lankan parliament. Both moves were in clear contravention of the Sri Lankan constitution.

While the 19th Amendment to the constitution stipulates that the president can’t dissolve parliament till completion of four and a half years of its term, there are also three clear circumstances in which the premier can be dismissed, leaving no room for president’s discretion. Sirisena’s actions fell foul of these constitutional provisions and it’s welcome that the Sri Lankan Supreme Court overturned his controversial moves. This should restore normalcy on the island nation, at least in the near term. Had Rajapaksa managed to consecrate his return to power as PM through the back door, it would have been bad for Sri Lanka itself. Recall that it was under Rajapaksa’s tenure as president that Sri Lanka was forced into a Chinese debt trap by taking on loans and projects that it couldn’t service.

The Sri Lankan experience, along with that of the Maldives recently, shows that democracy in South Asia may be young but it does have tenacity. Barring Pakistan democratic institutions do work, albeit at a slow pace. Therefore, when the Maldives’s former President Abdulla Yameen tried to crush the opposition in that country, the Maldivian people threw him out in democratic elections. All of this demonstrates that while the China model may be attractive to some, it is still very difficult to overturn constitutional democracy.

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Courtesy: Times of India: 18th Dec, 2018