Reconciliation and accountability promises remain largely unfulfilled’

The National People’s Power (NPP) government marks six months in office this May, with questions emerging on the progress with key manifesto promises. After securing a decisive electoral victory with President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s win in September 2024 and gaining 159 parliamentary seats in November during the Geneal Election, the administration now faces scrutiny on its implementation record. Recent local government election results indicate growing public skepticism as to whether the administration is able and willing to deliver on its pledges or revert to patterns linked to previous governments, the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) said in a statement.

CPA has developed a scorecard to assess the NPP’s performance across four critical areas: accountability, reconciliation, governance, and human rights. These interconnected domains represent long-standing challenges that defined the NPP’s rise to power and serve as clear metrics for evaluating the new administration’s commitment to change.

The six month timeline also coincides when Sri Lanka mark 16 years since the end of war. Despite the passage of time and countless domestic initiatives, many questions remain unanswered, justice elusive for victims and root causes of the conflict unaddressed. In such a context, the above four areas remain central to the process of reckoning.

CPA has in the past made several comments on the actions required for a meaningful transitional justice process in Sri Lanka. CPA also notes that the NPP’s manifesto promises in this regard are limited and fails to provide the multifaceted approach required for a country facing multiple challenges of transitioning from a post war to a post conflict context and facing economic and governance uncertainties. Against such a backdrop, it is critical that the NPP government deliver on its limited manifesto promises in a timely manner. Failure to do so would cause significant erosion in public perception of the government’s good faith.

Among key promises, the NPP’s pledge to abolish the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) stands out. However, since taking power, the government has continued to employ the PTA multiple times, contradicting its electoral commitment. Similarly, land disputes continue to plague communities, with the government failing to fulfill promises to return occupied properties to their original owners, sustaining root causes of the conflict.

The NPP government also pledged to address several emblematic cases and deliver justice to victims, including a commitment to take action against perpetrators of the Easter Sunday Attack. However, six months into its term, reports of custodial deaths and torture highlight the persistence of impunity in the country. A proposed Truth and Reconciliation Commission featured prominently in the NPP manifesto, yet concrete steps toward establishing this mechanism remain absent.

Moreover, CPA’s assessment notes significant gaps in publicly available information regarding the implementation of manifesto promises. This lack of transparency itself raises concerns of the government’s commitment to open governance and a political culture they promised the change.

CPA has previously communicated its concerns directly to President Dissanayake, the Minister of Justice, and the Minister of Women and Child Affairs regarding initiatives to implement key promises. The present scorecard, capturing implementation status as of May 15, 2025, represents the first in an ongoing monitoring process to evaluate alignment between political commitments and governmental action. The scorecard can be accessed via the web-link: https://www.cpalanka.org/manifesto-tracker