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Sri Lanka The United National Party Regains Power, 1965-70
The UNP "national government" emerged victorious in the March
1965 elections, capturing more than 39 percent of parliamentary
seats, compared to SLFP's 30.2 percent. One of the first actions
of the new government, led by Senanayake, was to declare that the
nation's economy was virtually bankrupt. Senanayake also
announced his intention to improve relations with the United
States. (In 1963 the United States had suspended aid to Sri Lanka
because of Bandaranaike's nationalization of foreign oil
concerns.)
The government tried to develop a mixed economy with an
emphasis on the private sector. Between 1965 and 1970, private
sector investment was double that of the public sector, thereby
reversing the trend set in the previous administration. Despite
the UNP's emphasis on the private sector, the economy generally
failed to show a major improvement. This failure was partly
caused by a nearly 50 percent increase in the cost of rice
imports after a worldwide shortage in 1965 and a concurrent steep
decline in the price of Sri Lanka's export commodities. In 1966
the UNP government was forced to declare a state of emergency to
ward off food riots. Senanayake reduced the subsidized weekly
rice ration by half. The reduction remained in effect throughout
the remainder of the "national government" period and contributed
greatly to UNP's defeat in the 1970 general elections.
The UNP paid more attention to Buddhist sensitivities than
it had in the past, and in an effort to widen the party's
popularity, it replaced the Christian sabbath with the Buddhist
poya full-moon holiday. This action satisfied Buddhist
activists but alienated the small but powerful Roman Catholic
lobby. The UNP also tried to earn favor with the Tamils by
enacting the Tamil Regulations in 1966, which were designed to
make Tamil a language officially "parallel" to Sinhala in Tamilspeaking regions. Sinhalese activists immediately expressed
hostility toward the Tamil Regulations. Civil violence ensued,
and the government was forced to proclaim a state of emergency
that lasted for most of the year.
Data as of October 1988
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