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Poll Outcome Spells Return to Arms
Sunday, 20 November 2005 - 8:18 PM SL Time
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`I want to state the dedication of my government to upholding the ceasefire 'I am also ready to review the ceasefire agreement,` Rajapakse said in an address to the nation, immediately after being sworn in as the embattled island nation`s fifth president, Saturday afternoon.
Dampened business confidence in the wake of Rajapakse`s victory, indicated by a seven percent fall in the Colombo stock market, was a sign that, in the near future, negotiations with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) will take precedence over revival of the flagging economy.
The Tamil Tigers, as the LTTE is better known, have been waging a separatist war against successive Sri Lankan governments for more than two decades, demanding a Tamil state in the north and east of the island. Major fighting, however, has been suspended since the February 2002 truce.
Despite being the longest truce in the war, that has claimed more than 65,000 lives, it has not been conducive to peace negotiations and the process has remained stalled since April 2003. The truce itself has come under intense pressure after a top Tiger military leader defected to government areas in April 2004.
``The voters said that the country should not be divided in any way. Our Sri Lankan identity should not be divided into political fragments,` Rajapakse said in his first presidential speech-- although the 50.3 percent of the popular vote that he won was closely followed by the 48.4 percent polled by his rival and architect of the 2002 truce, Ranil Wickremasinghe.
Seen another way, 4.8 million Sri Lankan voters had given Rajapakse a slender majority of just 180,000 votes.
There are suspicions that the Tigers may have shrewdly engineered a return to hardline positions by ordering Tamil voters-- who strongly favoured Wickremasinghe according to poll surveys--to stay away from the elections.
A week before polls opened on Nov. 17, the Tigers officially announced that they saw no benefit for the Tamils from the election and called for a boycott. Thousands heeded the call, especially in areas controlled by the Tigers and in the northern Jaffna Peninsula, the cultural capital of Tamils on the island.
Although the Tigers did not endorse Wickremasinghe`s candidature, the drift was clear from the fact that, during the campaign period, they constantly kept referring to Rajapakse as the `war candidate`.
In Jaffna, only 438 votes, out of a registered 62089, were cast. It was worse in Tiger-held Killinochchi, from where voters were expected arrive in government-controlled areas to vote. Of a registered 89,454 voters, only a single vote was received.
`In all five electoral districts in the north and east, the opposition candidate (Wickremasinghe) won, despite the low turnout. If we go by this trend, the opposition candidate, Wickremasinghe, should have won (the election), if there was no boycott,` analyst Muttukrishna Sarvananthan told IPS.
In some areas under their control, like Karadiyanaru and Vakerei in the east, armed LTTE cadres were stationed on the access roads to polling booths to prevent any voters from reaching them.
The Tigers, for their part, insist that the boycott was not forced and that Tamil voters had abstained from the poll to clearly indicate to the international community the preference of the majority Sinhalese.
`Tamils in the Tamil homeland, through their non-interference in this election, have given the opportunity to the southern people (majority Sinhalas) to elect their own head. This has provided a window to the international community to see the real face,` a Tiger statement on the poll outcome said.
The Tigers have, so far, not reacted to Rajapakse`s hardline presidential address and the official position will be made known on Nov. 27, when LTTE supremo, Velupillai Prabhakaran, makes his annual Heroes Day speech, according to the Tiger media office at Killinochchi in Jaffna.
Observers say Prabhakaran is likely to dig in and not climb down from his own, well-known, hardline position. International terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna told IPS that the Tiger leader would, most likely, react with threats and even suggest a return to the battlefield.
Gunaratna also felt that Rajapakse was unlikely to appear consolatory towards the Tigers. `To end the impasse with the LTTE, he must seek a new mediator,` he said.
The Tigers have repeatedly said they were not amenable to a review nor allow other international players into the process. According to the current agreement, the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission consists of Scandinavian nationals.
In a message, Norwegian Minister for International Cooperation Erik Solheim said, Oslo looked forward to continuing ``close cooperation with the new President and the Government of Sri Lanka in a wide range of areas, including support for efforts to achieve lasting peace that inspires confidence in all Sri Lankans.`
Available signals from the Tigers after Rajapakse`s election were not encouraging. A statement that appeared on the LTTE Peace Secretariat website said that Rajapakse`s victory was an indication that southern voters did not support a federal power-sharing mechanism and the Tamil demand for wider self-determination.
`The election result has revealed the deepest feelings of the Sinhala people. It shows that the Sinhala people, and by implication the leaders they elect, do not have the understanding of the basic causes of the Tamil ethnic problem. The results also reveal that political maturity, magnanimity, fairness and intelligent appraisal of the situation are lacking in them.``
`Through electing a head, who refused to accept that a just and permanent solution to one of the people`s of this island is an absolute necessity, the Sinhala nation has exposed its innermost feelings. Majoritarian chauvinism has come shining through,` the statement said.
Senior Tiger leader V Balakumaran said, over Tiger-controlled radio, that Rajapakse was acting no different from nationalist Sinhala leaders of the past who had pushed the Tamils into taking up arms soon after an election.
In Jaffna, tension was apparent among civilians after the election and many fear that the rhetoric from Colombo and Killinochchi could soon turn into real war. `Whatever the result is, it is going to affect the Tamils and they know that,` Jaffna resident, S Balan, said. (END/2005)
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Desertman
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 150
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20 Nov 2005 14:27:24 GMT Report for Abuse
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| Majority Sinhala people have elected the President to solve the LTTE problem, Not give away everything to Tigers as Ranil did. |
samanj
Senior Member
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 910
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20 Nov 2005 14:42:07 GMT Report for Abuse
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Desert Man ; Majority of Sinhala voters + Ltte brought
Hon. Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse to power.
It was they who decided he could solve the
problem. |
sathyaji
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 66
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20 Nov 2005 15:14:47 GMT Report for Abuse
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@ Samanj!
you are correct! Tamils who live under pressure of ltte voted mahinda! |
oeohosje
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 107
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20 Nov 2005 15:15:17 GMT Report for Abuse
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Majority Sinhalese have voted for war and Majority Tamils have boycotted to show that they are ready for either peace or war.
Mahinda should come up with his solution instead of saying ready for direct talks as 90% of Tamils don't trust him. |
ravi_r
Senior Member
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 574
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20 Nov 2005 15:46:04 GMT Report for Abuse
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Too bad we won, they lost big time. If Sinhalese voted for war, then what the hell Tamils were doing in the recent decades providing money to LTTE to buy arms. By not voting Tamils chose war over peace. Now prepare to live in refugee camps.
Given what we saw from LTTE, had Ranil won, what guarantees are there that peace would be achieved with LTTE? 51% of Sinhalese were clever enough not to believe the shady deal Ranil had with LTTE, remember the CFA? Now we can really discriminate against those who didn't vote for MR.
This is the best news I heard in 10 yrs. Mahinda has nothing to loose by getting tough with terrorists, but they have everything to loose by engaging in war - they have more enemies to fight this time with depleted cadre.
Every single day since the election we hear a new narration from the Evil god, they have many spokespersons and don't even have a common front on anything. I just love to see how they transform what they say about fighting for a 'homeland' into practice.
Edited By - ravi_r - 20 Nov 2005 15:54:18 GMT |
aimusa
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 57
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20 Nov 2005 16:04:19 GMT Report for Abuse
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| Well here we go again. Somehow the poor people of Sri Lanka have voted against Economic growth and want to go back to getting their arms and legs blown off. I've got to hand it to the 51% who voted for MR they may be the stupidest people who have ever lived on planet earth. Good job. The stock market is a big indicator about what the more educated folk think of this pathetic selection. Ranil may not be great. in fact he is pretty bad but he is no commie DEVIL! |
AnuD
Senior Member
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 4536
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20 Nov 2005 16:16:18 GMT Report for Abuse
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The way some LTTE - tamils talk here they are almighty. They are capable of doing anything and everything.
Still they keep on screwig up SRi Lanka.
Barbarians are more civilized than these people.
Edited By - AnuD - 20 Nov 2005 16:16:54 GMT |
sathyaji
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 66
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20 Nov 2005 16:29:26 GMT Report for Abuse
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@ aimusa
'Somehow the poor people of Sri Lanka have voted'
And who was not allowed to vote
choosed this presedent and his politics |
aimusa
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 57
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20 Nov 2005 16:42:38 GMT Report for Abuse
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| Kaduvan could you explain your Bill Clinton comment a little more...doesn't make a lot of sense. |
KURAL
Senior Member
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 2531
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20 Nov 2005 16:49:19 GMT Report for Abuse
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Dear poor innocant spirits,
it's not because many Tamils didn't vote in N-E that it's LTTE's fault !!
Many extremists are thinking that...
No No No, i personnaly didn't participate because i'm revolted against GOSL so i didn't VOTE, so it's not LTTE who boycotted it, but civilans ! Many persons here are like me...
WAKE UP FOOLS ! |
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