Abstract

Human- Elephant conflict is a serious environmental and social issue in Sri Lanka, especially in rural and agricultural areas. This conflict has increasingly become part of electoral politics, as politicians use it to gain voter support by promising quick and visible solutions. The research problem is, how well-informed are rural voters about the ecological, social, and economic dimensions of human elephant conflict in their constituencies? The main purpose is writing this research paper, critically examine to assess rural voters’ awareness of human elephant conflict issues and their perceptions of incumbent and challenger candidates’ campaign promises related to human elephant conflict. And also sub purposes are to examine the influence of electoral promises on voters’ trust and satisfaction with governance structures responsible for human elephant conflict mitigation, to analyze the effectiveness of governance responses—particularly community-based electric fencing and translocation programs—in reducing human elephant conflict incidents, as perceived by local stakeholders and to identify the gaps between campaign rhetoric and implementation of human elephant conflict mitigation strategies, thereby proposing policy recommendations to align electoral processes with evidence-based interventions. The writing of this article uses qualitative method. Use Details the mixed-methods approach, data sources, sampling techniques, and analytical methods. Specially analysis technique based on previous researchers’ findings. A conceptual framework is developed, integrating theoretical perspectives from political ecology and environmental governance. Enhance Maintenance and Community Ownership of Electric Fences, while electric fences reduce crop raids by up to 70% in pilot sites (IIED, 2020) IIED, Strengthen and Streamline Compensation Mechanisms, Prioritize Ecological Corridor Restoration Over Translocation and Integrate HEC Mitigation in Electoral Manifestos with Accountability Mechanisms. these findings can be identified regarding how well-informed are rural voters about the ecological, social, and economic dimensions of human elephant conflict in their constituencies under the research.