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1 1 (October 1, 2019)

handle is hein.crs/govbbfn0001 and id is 1 raw text is: ,.., ' Congressional Research Service Ifor rng the legislative debate since 1914 Sri Lanka Updated October 1, 2019 The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, known as Ceylon until 1972, is a constitutional democracy in South Asia with relatively high levels of development. It is strategically located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern tip of India's Deccan Peninsula. Historical Setting The island nation was settled by successive waves of migration from India beginning in the 5th century BC. Indo- Aryans from northern India established Sinhalese Buddhist kingdoms in the central part of the island. Tamil Hindus from southern India also settled in northeastern coastal areas and established a kingdom on the Jaffna Peninsula. Beginning in the 16th century, Sri Lanka was colonized in succession by the Portuguese, Dutch, and English. Although Ceylon gained its independence from Britain peacefully in 1948, succeeding decades were marred by ethnic conflict between the country's Sinhalese majority, clustered in the densely populated South and West, and a largely Hindu Tamil minority living in the North and East. Following independence, the Tamils who had attained educational and civil service positions under the British- increasingly faced discrimination from the Sinhalese- dominated government, which made Sinhala the sole official language and gave preferences to Sinhalese in university admissions and government jobs. The Sinhalese, who had deeply resented British favoritism toward the Tamils, saw themselves not only as the majority, but also as a minority in a larger regional context that includes over 60 million Tamils across the Palk Strait in India's southern state of Tamil Nadu and elsewhere in India. Civil War For 25 years, from 1983 to 2009, political, social, and economic development was constrained by ethnic conflict and war between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), also known as the Tamil Tigers. The war cost an estimated 70,000-130,000 lives. The LTTE rebels sought to establish a separate state or internal self- rule in the Tamil-dominated areas. After a violent end to the civil war in May 2009, when the military crushed LTTE forces and precipitated a humanitarian emergency in Sri Lanka's Tamil-dominated north, attention turned to whether the government had the ability and intention to build a stable peace in Sri Lanka. Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, elected in 2005, faced criticism for an allegedly insufficient response to reported war crimes, a nepotistic and ethnically biased government, increasing restrictions on media, and uneven economic development. In the January 2015 presidential election he was defeated by President Maithripala Sirisena. This result was affirmed in parliamentary elections later in 2015 that led to the formation of a unity government supportive of Sirisena's reform agenda, including efforts to reduce the authority of the executive presidency. Figure I. Sri Lanka In Brief Political Crisis and Forthcoming Elections The governing coalition began to fracture after it performed poorly in the February 2018 local elections, losing out to the newly-formed Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) party which capitalized on rising Sinhalese ethnic nationalism. A political crisis emerged in late 2018 when President Sirisena of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) tried unsuccessfully to dismiss Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe of the United National Party (UNP) and replace him with Mahinda Rajapaksa of the SLPP. The next presidential election is to be held on November 16, 2019, and some observers believe a SLPP candidate may win. The new president will subsequently be able to dissolve parliament after February 2020. The constitution stipulates that the president cannot dissolve parliament until after four and a half years of its term have passed. Observers predict that the SLPP will do well in the 2020 parliamentary election. Some observers say rising Sinhalese nationalism is a threat to lasting reconciliation between the majority Sinhalese and the Tamil minority, which is represented primarily by the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in parliament. Supporters of former President Rajapaksa, who is widely viewed as a Sinhalese nationalist, formed the SLPP to challenge Sirisena's reform coalition in 2016. Gotobahaya Rajapaksa, brother of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and a former Defense Secretary, is expected to be the SLPP presidential candidate in the November 16, 2019, presidential election. While a frontrunner, there is some controversy over his candidacy; some activists have alleged that he is a U.S. citizen. Sri Lanka doesn't allow dual or non-citizens to contest elections. Gotobhaya has claimed he has renounced his U.S. citizenship and is eligible to run for po scongr

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