| Analyst | Bahauddin Foizee |

Religious nationalism was key in the recent Sri Lankan presidential election, where Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa won with 52.25% of the vote. The results showed that candidates’ success depended on the dominant religious community in each area.

In regions with a majority of Buddhist voters, Gotabaya received strong support, emphasizing “Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism” during his campaign. His main opponent, Sajith Premadasa, struggled in these areas.

Gotabaya lost in regions where Muslims and Hindus were the majority, with Premadasa winning those areas easily. This highlights how religious nationalism divided the country.

Gotabaya promised a Sri Lanka focused on Sinhalese Buddhism, often appearing with Buddhist monks to show their support. However, Tamil/Hindu and Muslim minorities feared this approach would undermine their rights and rejected him.

Interestingly, many Christians also voted for Gotabaya, driven by security concerns related to the Muslim community, especially after the Easter Sunday attacks on churches. Divisive political messages led them to blame the entire Muslim community for these attacks, even though only a small extremist group was responsible.

Gotabaya’s campaign tapped into public fears about security, reminding voters of his role in defeating the Tamil Tigers during the civil war. Many Buddhist voters saw this as a victory for their community, while Christian voters thought Gotabaya could similarly address issues with the Muslim community.

Many Western analysts worry that Gotabaya may misuse the security sentiment to unfairly target innocent Tamils, Hindus, and Muslims.

After winning, Gotabaya claimed to be the president for all Sri Lankans, but this alone doesn’t ease the fears of Hindus and Muslims. To truly address these fears, he needs to stop promoting Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism, which has increased tensions between religious groups, especially after the Easter attacks.

Many doubt his ability to calm these tensions, as his victory was built on promoting Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism and fostering insecurity by framing the Muslim community as a threat.