Is the NPP effective, not just different?

Two years ago, Sri Lankan voters rejected a political establishment that had governed the country since Independence in 1948. National People's Power's (NPP) candidate Anura Kumara Dissanayake won the Presidency in September 2024 and his party won the Parliamentary Election several weeks later. The NPP secured 6.86 million votes and won 159 of the 225 Seats, reducing several once-dominant parties to the margins of Parliament with only one or two MPs. The NPP's mandate arose from the economic collapse of 2022 and the anger it produced among the populace. The trauma of the 2022 meltdown convinced Sri Lankan voters that clean politics, equal treatment under the law and a State that serves citizens rather than politicians and their associates are not esoteric interests of academics and activists. The voters gave the NPP enough power to pursue those goals without depending on unstable coalitions. Government's direction Two years are too short to rebuild a country that had hit the nadir, but they are long enough to identify the direction of any Government. On one hand, the NPP has preserved the economic recovery it inherited and maintained the external debt-restructuring process and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme. On the other, it has changed familiar practices of power. Government leaders have avoided extravagant displays of wealth, political families no longer dominate the Cabinet, investigations involving powerful figures have advanced and perks and privileges of being a politician have been curbed. And possibly for the first time in post-Independence history, a Government has allowed Police/CIABOC investigations on some of its own members. The political culture has also shifted. Opposition parties now rarely defend the privileges and patronage associated with the old system. Instead, the Opposition also demands that the Government fulfill its manifesto, 'A Thriving Nation, A Beautiful Life,' showing how thoroughly the party has set the terms of political debate. The opponents of the NPP are now compelled to speak the language of accountability, restraint, anti-corruption and reform. Changing the political culture is an achievement, but that is not the most difficult test. In the first two years, the people wanted to know how the NPP was different from its predecessors. From the third year people will ask whether the NPP Government is effective. There is evidence that the NPP is doing important work that receives inadequate attention. An analysis by Verité Research found that the President Dissanayake's administration enacted 32 laws during its first 18 months, compared with 20 under President Maithripala Sirisena's Good Governance (Yahapalanaya) Government. While numbers alone do not indicate the quality of legislation, it shows that the Government is active and that it is not just drifting without an agenda. Legislative work and improvements in public administration rarely produce dramatic television footage, as their benefits become only apparent years later. Unfortunately, the Government offers little explanation of what these reforms will change, when citizens will feel the difference and how their implementation will be measured. Good work that remains invisible brings no political credit and voters cannot be expected to be grateful for developments that have never been communicated. A professional communications strategy would allow each Ministry or public agency to present a clear public account of its work, expenditure, results and delays. Regular briefings should provide journalists with officials who understand the subject and can answer detailed questions. Information must reach Sinhala and Tamil-speaking audiences at the same speed, particularly when policies affect the communities differently. The need for better communication is clearest when it comes to the economy. Sri Lanka recorded growth of 5 percent in both 2024 and 2025, followed by 5.1 percent growth in the first quarter of 2026. Those figures show that the recovery has continued despite severe external pressures including the Middle East conflict, but they do not tally with the experience of a family struggling with the high Cost of Living (COL). Colombo-based headline inflation rose to 8 percent in August, while food inflation reached 8.5 percent. The increase followed a July rise in which higher housing rents made a significant contribution. These figures help explain why public confidence in the economy can weaken even as national output grows. Apparent contradiction The Government needs to explain this apparent contradiction. A lower inflation rate means that prices are rising more slowly, but it does not return them to their old level. Households, of which incomes have not recovered from the economic crisis, continue to feel poorer even when the broader economy is expanding. Rising world energy prices and instability in the Middle East can increase domestic costs before any Sri Lankan Minister has time to respond. Citizens will nevertheless judge the Government by the price(s) they pay. Rents present an even harder problem. Housing supply has not expanded adequately. Construction costs, access to credit, land use and transport links shape the rental market over many years. The Government must tell the people which parts of the problem it can address, present a credible housing and transport programme, and publish a timetable against which progress can be judged. A family struggling to pay rent does not care for lectures on macroeconomics. It needs to know why the pressure has arisen, what relief is available and what the Government is doing to prevent a permanent decline in living standards. The Opposition remains too divided to offer a convincing alternative. The NPP still holds 159 Parliamentary seats against the Samagi Jana Balawegaya's (SJB) 40. At the 2025 Local Government (LG) election, it secured 43.26 percent of the vote, almost twice the SJB's share, and led in 266 Councils. The old parties have yet to show that they understand why voters rejected them in 2024. However, as the rapid disintegration of the Gotabaya Rajapaksa administration showed, Parliamentary dominance is not a guarantee of lasting public confidence. The NPP's vote share at the LG election was considerably lower than at the Parliamentary Election, although the contests had different turnouts and dynamics. A Verité Research survey placed Government approval at 50 percent in July, down from 65 percent in February. A Government can lose support before the Opposition starts winning people over. This is what happened to the Gotabaya Rajapaksa administration. Disappointed supporters may first withdraw or stay away. In 2022, there was little evidence to show that the NPP would win 159 Seats in Parliament two years later. Thus, the weakness of today's Opposition should not encourage complacency. Revitalising State capacity The NPP also needs to revitalise State capacity. Political authority does not automatically produce administrative capacity. At a recent pre-Budget review, President Dissanayake instructed officials to accelerate a Rs 6.79 billion rural bridge programme after the year's projects had reached only 29 percent progress. This episode revealed both the Government's attention to delivery and the scale of the implementation problem. Ministers have been highlighting the slow procedures, weak coordination and institutional resistance they inherited. But with each passing month, the failure to address these weaknesses becomes their problem. The NPP can reasonably say that it inherited a bankrupt economy, weakened institutions and a political culture shaped by decades of patronage. Economic recovery, affordable housing, better public services and a cleaner administration require time. Two years ago, the NPP won the argument about what was wrong with Sri Lankan politics. It weakened the old establishment, raised expectations of public conduct and showed that a party outside the traditional governing families could take national power. Its third year begins with a harder test, whether it can make the State work better and make economic recovery visible in the household budget. Anniversary speeches cannot answer that question, only competent administration, honest explanations and measurable results can. The NPP has changed Sri Lanka's political language. The State must now catch up.