The law in many countries, including vibrant democracies, is silent about holding candidates accountable for promises they make during election campaigns. But it is an undeniable fact that political accountability is an essential characteristic of democracy. To state one set of policy during the campaign and implement totally another in power is to violate the principle of political accountability and undermine fundamental principles of democratic government.

Yet, in many democracies, politicians at election time make rash promises which they jolly well know they cannot keep once they come to power. Sri Lanka is no exception. With the presidential election campaign reaching fever pitch in Sri Lanka, the two main contenders are raining promises on the voters, who, many politicians apparently think, are gullible. Voters, on the other hand, think they are politically mature enough to take informed decisions notwithstanding the promises the politicians make.

Yet the irony is that it is the promises of the candidates that make the difference at elections. The election history of Sri Lanka has recorded many celebrated promises. The Sri Lanka Freedom Party-led alliance won the 1970 parliamentary elections on the strength of a promise that every person would get two measures of free rice per week. When asked how they would implement the promise, the leaders of the alliance said they would even go to the moon and get the rice. But once in office, they only saw stars because there were not enough funds in the treasury to implement their promise.

The United National Party won the 1977 elections on a promise that every person would get eight kilograms of grain per week. The promise was not fulfilled. The UNP won the 1989 election, against all odds, by promising to pay a monthly allowance of Rs2,500 to every poor family. But the actual poverty alleviation programme it implemented was much different from what it promised.

Chandrika Kumaratunga in 1994 contested the presidential election saying she would abolish the executive presidency within six months. But instead of abolishing it, she ran for a second term and made an aborted attempt to extend her second term by one more year.

The ongoing election campaign supercedes all the previous election campaigns as far as promises are concerned. The promises of milk, money and honey are simply unbelievable. UNP Presidential candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe pledges to give a daily free glass of milk to every child under the age of five. His rival, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse, says he will give a Rs200 milk allowance for every child under the age of five. A third candidate, ayurvedic businessmen Victor Hettigoda, who is more known for his balm than his political views, says if he is elected, he will give every family a cow.

Among the sunshine promises with which the main contenders are trying to woo the voter are a higher poverty allowance, salary increases and a December bonus to public servants, price reduction of essential items, fertiliser at giveaway prices, generation of one million jobs, maintaining an 8-10 percent economic growth, achieving peace and abolishing dowry. Virtually, there is a promise for everyone in the manifestos of the two main contenders.

With economic indicators not showing much promise, neither of the main contenders elucidates in the manifestos how he will find resources to implement his promises. If an alien lands near a venue of a political meeting here for a brief stopover on his way to another planet, he is sure to think that he has landed on the Planet Earth’s richest country, which does not know how to spend or what to do with its excessive wealth.

When politics of promises is mentioned, New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg stands out as a model for all politicians.

Bloomberg was confronted by a civic conscience civilian — Anthony Santa Maria — at a subway station during his 2001 campaign. Santa Maria scoffed at the promises politicians make but the criticism did not make Bloomberg angry. Instead it inspired him to release an annual status report on his 381 campaign promises. According to his 2004 status report, 196 of his 381 promises had been fulfilled and another 130 are being implemented while the rest are being considered.

In Sri Lanka, however, we are yet to see politicians of the calibre of Bloomberg. An angry Sri Lankan viewer asked the moderator of a TV show whether there was legislation to take the politicians to court for breaking their promises. The moderator’s advice was for the people to be the judges at elections and reject the politicians who break promises. But at every election, we are lured by new promises and the cycle of making and breaking promises and electing and rejecting politicians continues.