Strong President and vulnerable political system in Sri Lanka

In South Asia, India and Sri Lanka have maintained parliamentary democracy since they gained independence. Whereas India - which is often called the world’s largest democracy - is the most famous democratic country in South Asia, democratic procedures and institutions have been established also in Sri Lanka (Kondo 2002; Hirose 2002). And although Sri Lanka’s domestic political institutions - including the electoral system - have changed several times due to the adoption of new constitutions in 1972 and 1978, it has been holding general elections regularly. Incidents of violence and corruption could certainly jeopardize free and fair elections. Nevertheless, partly thanks to the election-monitoring activities of civil society organizations,¹ changes in the government based on the results of parliamentary elections have occurred peacefully.