program but now there is that confidence with this result of the election in fact president gore tabi rajapaksa responding to the results as they came through yesterday said he is confident that he can build a strong parliament to take forward he is a vicious stars of prosperity that is kind of mandate and program that he put forward for his presidential bid and that this government is taking forward to help minimum your opinion why do the rajapaksa do so well in this election because at the moment one might assume. they themselves are very popular and people voted because they wanted to see a constitutional change but the economy is in the doldrums and also ethnic divisions which is still rumbling in society at the moment after the easter sunday bombings a year ago and the end of a very bloody civil war lots of factors here but they still got through. absolutely i mean at the end of the day when you look at the result of this election 2020 you see the overwhelming support of the rajapaksa family essential commands here in sri lanka you did have a president mahinda rajapaksa voted out of office

be led by the rajapaksa to carry on with the work program set out by president gore tabi rajapaksa in his election bid in 2019 it's called the stars for prosperity and aims to take sri lanka forward dealing with some of the pressing issues that this country faces now obviously the consolidation of the rajapaksa hold on power has been confirmed with the swearing in of my in the rajapaksa as we saw here at the calorie temple a little while ago but it also shows the kind of dynamic the family is now in charge and even when we saw the swearing in of the prime minister you had the president go tubby rajapaksa his younger brother who went around the table and actually worshiped his brother once he saw him in as prime minister these are some of the kind of ways the family operates obviously a number of siblings all of them involved in sri lankan politics now there have been some concerns about a potential reversal of some of the democratic institutions the achievements of the last constitution because the right boxes have said that with control of parliament and a 2 thirds majority one of th

the sort of surprise or the element that people were looking at 8 months ago when president gore tabi rajapaksa sensually threw his hat in the presidential race people wondered you know because obviously back in 2015 the prime minister mahinda rajapakse of was voted out of office particularly a centrally people basically voted him out and the new government to the good governance government essentially was given a chance because at that stage of the waters opted for what they promised change essentially a change of the regime a change of the with the rajapakse as had been doing business of the 2 presidential terms and things like that but they made such a shambles of it that most people turned turned full circle and have decided that at least they're out to do is that's what we're hearing out on the street on sensually the we present go tubby rajapakse as handle the coronavirus pandemic that has hit contrasted with the way the previous government made a complete shambles of the national security situation allowing one of the largest bomb attacks in this country on easter 2019 is something that'

program but now there is that confidence with this result of the election in fact president gore tabi rajapaksa responding to the results as they came through yesterday said he's confident that he can build a strong parliament to take forward he's a vis stars of prosperity that he's kind of mandate and program that he put forward for his presidential bid and that this government is taking forward well pi can start his sort of animal to is the executive director of the think tank the center for policy alternatives he says the opposition has weakened divided and there are big challenges ahead. i think what both are sparks is sort of the jury was reaching out that he would require a strong stable government in comparison to the government that are before him the sort of governance which the prime minister and the president to it's part is very weak and vacillating and knocked on the right it so strong stable government also the assertion of the identity of the majority community so it's also a strong signal of the biggest scar with a strong sense of you know centralized leadership authoritarianism

program but now there is that confidence with this result of the election in fact president gore tabi rajapaksa responding to the results as they came through yesterday he said he's confident that he can build a strong parliament to take forward he's a vis stars of prosperity that's his kind of mandate and program that he put forward for his presidential bid and that this government is taking forward by consulting. an executive director the thing telling the center for policy alternatives and joins me now from colombo good to have you with us on the program are you surprised at the size of the victory. well we're not surprised at the victory but i think it was clear that the victory is somewhat surprised that it has been given such a post a mandate from the people is somewhat surprising and that the united national party has been disadvantaged just one suit in parliament as our supports right i mean as you say it's a huge mandate perhaps potentially for the country to seeds see a major shift in the constitution i mean how soon do you think this is all going to start happening well i mean part o

program but now there is that confidence with this result of the election in fact president gore tabi rajapaksa responding to the results as they came through yesterday he said he's confident that he can build a strong parliament to take forward he's a vicious stars of prosperity that he's kind of mandate and program that he put forward for his presidential bid and that this government is taking forward here so he sort of animal is the executive director of the think tank the center for policy alternatives he says the opposition is weak and divided and there are big challenges ahead. i think walked well talked about parts of succeeded in doing was looking out for by strong stable government person to the government but the calm before the so called documents god the which the prime minister and the president the policies it was a week and vacillating doctor organized it so strong stable government also the assertion of the identity of the majority community so it's also a strong single those who just started with a strong sense all you know centralized leadership a formative years and perhaps a