Talk:2024 Sri Lankan parliamentary election

UNP

Hello Not Wlwtn. I'm a bit confused by the article – specifically why the UNP is listed in the opinion polls table but not in the list of contesting parties or in the infobox. But the People's Alliance is in the infobox and contesting parties table, but not in the opinion polls table.

It's also slightly confusing that the TNA is listed in the infobox and contesting parties list, but only the ITAK is listed in the opinion polls table... Cheers, Number 57 18:34, 9 September 2024 (UTC)

Hello. Yes, I'm aware of the inconsistencies in the article. There's bound to be a few since the article documents a future election, especially one where the circumstances of said election seem unclear as of today.

The UNP is not in the list of contesting parties as the party has not yet made an official statement saying they would participate in the next general elections (that I'm aware of. If I'm wrong please correct me). However it is included in the opinion poll table, as the poll, conducted by the IHP, includes the UNP in its polls.

Adding on to that, the poll also includes the ITAK rather than the TNA, and the SLFP rather than the People's Alliance. The SLFP has never fared very well in any of the IHP polls, usually scoring only 1 or 2%, therefore we felt it was useless to include it in the table.

The People's Alliance only stated it would be contesting in the next general election back in early 2024. Now I'm not sure if that's still happening. Since we don't currently have much of an idea what parties will actually be contesting in the election, I feel it'd be best to remove the table of contesting parties for now, as it definitely feels like crystal balling at this point. But those are just my thoughts. Not Wlwtn (talk) 01:46, 10 September 2024 (UTC)

TBH I am not sure we need confirmation that a party will be contesting an election to include in the infobox. I think we would only exclude a party if it was definitely confirmed it would not be running. Even then, some infoboxes contain parties that are not running up until election day on the basis that they still hold seats. I would therefore suggest the UNP be added to the infobox. Cheers, Number 57 14:41, 10 September 2024 (UTC)

I feel a confirmation would be necessary. We also need to take into consideration that party alliances and coalitions may switch around drastically closer to the election, as we saw in 2020.

Perhaps instead of removing the table entirely we could just make it hidden. Until we have more info on what parties are running. Not Wlwtn (talk) 18:00, 10 September 2024 (UTC)

Do you mean confirmation is necessary for the infobox or the table? I understand for the table, but not the infobox – it is fairly usual for all parties with seats to be in infoboxes despite not knowing whether they will contest the next election. Number 57 20:14, 10 September 2024 (UTC)

I meant the table, under the section "Contesting parties". I don't think there's anything to change with the infobox. Not Wlwtn (talk) 21:10, 10 September 2024 (UTC)

But the UNP is missing from the infobox despite being in fourth place in the polls... Number 57 22:24, 10 September 2024 (UTC)

Then add them. They currently have only one seat in parliament, however. Not Wlwtn (talk) 00:18, 11 September 2024 (UTC)

We don't show parties based on their opinion polling showing, we show them based on their showing in the last election. UNP got 1 seat - if we include them, it seems remiss to not then include all other parties with seats (but then that would not reflect the reality of importance of Sri Lankan politics) Quinby (talk) 13:24, 15 September 2024 (UTC)

That's a fair point- if we were to include the UNP, we'd have to include all the other minor parties that won a single seat in the previous election. Not Wlwtn (talk) 14:49, 15 September 2024 (UTC)