Anura Meter is an online tracker that monitors the progress of selected promises made in the 2024 presidential election manifesto of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake. The 22 promises selected for tracking focus on proposals considered to be of high public interest and important in relation to economic reforms, governance, anti-corruption, law and order, and social protection.
The Manthri.lk team initially analysed the full breadth of manifesto promises in the 2024 presidential election manifesto. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake's manifesto comprised of 1,325 promises. From these, 947 promises had an observable associated action, of which 378 were 'monitorable'. To see this list and learn more about monitorable actions please go to the Manifesto Match, and refer to the FAQ pop there, as published ahead of the 2024 Presidential Election.
The Manthri.lk team first sought to include all 378 monitorable promises into the Anura Meter. However, this would have been too resource intensive for us to monitor effectively. We then decided to consider only the promises relating to the following important themes: economic reforms, governance, anti-corruption, law and order, and social protection. This then reduced the number of promises to 171.
In order to track progress for these 171 promises, we submitted 41 RTI requests to the government ministries and institutions associated with them. Only 23 RTIs were acknowledged, from which only 15 provided usable information. Due to the low level of responses from the government, the team decided to begin with monitoring a small subset of just 22 promises which were judged to be of very high-public interest – but that is just the beginning.
Manthri.lk expects to expand the number of promises monitored on the Anura Meter. We will now do this based on public expressions of interest and improved access to information.
Here is how we propose to move forward: You can request the addition of a new promise under the 5 current themes by starting a petition on Change.org and sharing it with us. If the petition has some traction – that is, gets at least 500 signatures, we will host the petition link on the Manthri.lk site for three months, to help with more visibility. If it gets significant public support in that time, at least 5,000 signatures, we will include it in the tracker.
The progress of these promises will be updated as and when we receive information from the government or other relevant sources. We invite the public to contribute information by clicking on the "Contribute Information" button on the tracker. For any other assistance you can provide, or questions you’d like to ask, please email: manthri@veriteresearch.org
We will keep improving the ability of the public to engage with us and improve the scope of what is monitored on the Anura Meter. We welcome and thank you for your assistance.
Policies, programs, and regulatory mechanisms aimed at reducing poverty, vulnerability, and discrimination
Focus on investment, trade, public finance, and tax reform
Processes and systems of decision making, coordination, and management within the government to ensure greater transparency and accountability
Implementing systems and legal frameworks to prevent, detect, and punish corrupt practices within public institutions and government operations
Delivering justice for past political violence, ensuring accountability for high-profile crimes, and upholding the rule of law
Publicly available online information from official government sources
Government responses to Right to Information (RTI) requests sent every six months
Updates submitted by the public and verified by the Parliamentary Research Team at Verité Research
Our sources are official government documents and publicly accessible records that provide verified information on progress made on promises by the government. Some of these sources include, but are not limited to, cabinet decisions, budget documents, gazetted documents, acts, annual reports, and data from government websites. Statements made by public officials are not considered as official sources.
The 22 promises selected for tracking are based on our assessment of the most critical elements of the manifesto that have generated high public interest. This is a best effort initiative, where small mistakes and oversights may occur. We encourage the public to help us crowdsource corrections for any inadvertent errors.
The inclusion or omission of a promise on this platform should not be considered an endorsement. Verité Research takes no responsibility for any opinions, views, conclusions, or representations made, etc., by any individual or organisation based on their engagement with and interpretation of data available through the Anura Meter.