However, between 2021 and 2022 the Rajapaksa government lost much of its popularity. The ongoing economic crisis continued to deteriorate due to mismanagement by the government.[7] By 2021, Sri Lanka's debt-to-GDP ratio had risen to 119%.[8] The government had also become highly nepotistic, with another Rajapaksa brother, Basil, serving as Minister of Finance and several more members of the Rajapaksa family holding prominent positions in the government.[9]
On 5 April 2022, amidst street protests against the Rajapaksa government and a brewing political crisis, the SLPP began losing many of its key allies in the SLPFA, including the SLFP.[10][11][12] SLFP leader and former President Maithripala Sirisena pledged that his party would become politically neutral and would contest future elections separately from the SLPP.
History
On 11 January 2023, the Freedom People's Alliance was ceremoniously launched at the headquarters of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party.[1] At the event, Freedom People's Congress leader Dullas Alahapperuma stated that the group's main objective was to fight political corruption in Sri Lanka and safeguard the rule of law, while conceding that the previous support of FPA constituent parties for the Rajapaksa government had been a "mistake".[13]