Ominous signs keep coming over the political horizon. The first came with reports of the death of Pirapaharan and his cohorts in the form of giant cardboard cut-outs of President Mahinda Rajapakse calling him ‘Maha Rajaneni’ (Great King). At the same time media sycophants both in the state and privately owned media had caught the Rajapakse euphoria/ Mahinda Mania and presented him as a reincarnation of the legendary Sinhala king Dutu Gemunu. A commentator at a ceremony to flag off a victory motorcade from Independence Square to Tangalle was so effusive about Mahinda Rajapakse, asked: Why have the great debate over the constitution? Let’s scrap the constitution and have President Mahinda Rajapakse instead!

Cardboard cut-outs with emotional slogans keep appearing on the roads and may soon outnumber lamp posts. The title Maha-Rajaneni has now become a byword. There have been stupid suggestions such as to build nine replicas of the Ruwanveli Seya in the nine provinces. Ruwanveli Seya, or the Great Stupa, was built by King Dutu Gemunu after his victory over the Tamil King Elara. It was such a massive monument that it could not be completed in Dutu Gemunu’s lifetime. The implications are obvious: Dutu Gemunu reborn is nine folds greater than the original! All this could have been passed over as sycophancy of a high order in the flush of victory but the adulation is continuing.

Now it is taking an even more dangerous turn. The Dambulla Pradeshiya Sabha has unanimously adopted a resolution by its Chairman K.G. Somathilaka to extend the term of office of Mahinda Rajapakse for another six years without holding an election! This has been supported by UNP members of the council as well. A resolution adopted by a district council may not be a serious matter if not for the fact that no one in authority had commented on it or dispelled fears.

There was a deadly silence last week about the Pradeshiya Sabha resolution with the sycophantic press turning a blind eye. Meanwhile President Rajapakse was being welcomed in Myanmar by the Burmese junta which had not held elections for more than 40 years. The only election they had was about 19 years ago when Aung Suu Ki’s Democratic Party swept the elections but instead of being elected as prime minister she has been placed under house arrest since then! Perhaps the Mahinda Mania enthusiasts may argue that what is good for Burma should be good for Lanka too.

The victory over terrorism, elevation to royalty, even though by sycophants, and the call for continuation in office without an election being held is a heady mixture in which sycophantic fantasies may be considered real possibilities. Kings both here and abroad who disregarded the wishes of the people have lost their heads and even democratic leaders who were elected with massive majorities have come to sorry ends when they attempted to avoid elections and extend their terms of office. The beginning of the end of J.R. Jayewardene who was elected with an unprecedented 4/5 majority was when he held a referendum instead of holding a general election and extended the life of parliament.

Sirima Bandaranaike too was elected to parliament by a massive 2/3 majority but was misled by her constitutional pundits that she had the backing of the people to extend the life of parliament by two more years. Not only did she suffer a crippling defeat at the next election but was also deprived of her civic rights by a presidential commission for extending the life of parliament. However, it has to be said to her credit that in 1977 when her leftist constitutional pundits did attempt to convince her that she had a mandate to go on in power she rejected such advice and called for an election.

President Rajapakse’s margin of victory in the presidential election was only 1.86 per cent over his rival Ranil Wickremesinghe who was deprived of victory when large numbers of UNP supporters’ names had simply ‘disappeared’ from voters lists and Velupillai Pirapaharan ordered Tamil voters who were likely to vote for Wickremesinghe to keep away from polling booths.

Elections being held regularly to elect a president or representatives of the people for a fixed period of time are vital for a democratic system to survive. According to Francis  Fukuyama, author of the much acclaimed book The End Of History And The Last Man, a liberal democracy is the end of the line in evolution of the historical process — through which human societies evolved — from primitive societies, nomadic tribes, subsistence agriculture, feudalism, aristocracy, monarchy, fascism to democracy. To go back to royalty or fascism (guided democracy under rule of one man and his clique) is historical retrogression and it does not happen in our times. Right now we are witnessing in Iran where alleged election irregularities have thrown the mullah-guided democracy into turmoil. Even in newly emergent African states the movement is towards democracy and doing away with strong-men and tribal leaders.

The executive presidential system of Sri Lanka has been perverted and abused down the years so much that it leaves room for one person with executive powers to extend a dictatorship regardless of the pledges on which he was elected. Already the non implementation of the 17^th Amendment has resulted in the concentration of power in one individual. This is the reason attributed to the breakdown of law and order. Despite the build up of the police force it is tragic that arrest of criminals behind the assassination of journalists, defy the police.

President Rajapakse has done a commendable job in crushing LTTE terrorism. His job now is to reform the constitution to enable the people to have more power. Over the years, parliamentary control of finance has been lost. There is no accountability of some government institutions. More power vested in one individual is not the answer. The axiom of British governance is that the ‘King can do no wrong.’ Indeed he cannot because parliament is vested with all powers. A king or strong-man with no such restraints on exercise of power could spell doom to a country.