Buying into future changes

While Sri Lanka may not be a model of democracy, the outcome of its presidential elections demonstrates that the country is moving in a democratic direction. The polls were free and fair, and their results were accepted by all contesting political parties. No less significant was the promise of the newly-elected president of Sri Lanka, Marxist-leaning Anura Kumara Dissanayake, to get some of his pledges made to the voters included in the ongoing International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme. Conceding that the agreement with the IMF is a binding document, the winning party argues that “there is a provision to renegotiate”. Mr Dissanayake pledged to reduce income taxes that were doubled by the previous government and slash sales taxes on food and medicine.