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Whoever becomes the winner
Saturday, 10 May 2008 - 8:47 PM SL Time
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Today`s election to the Eastern Provincial Council is one of the most crucial electoral exercises this country has ever had. It is being contested as if it were a general election. Stakes that political parties have in it are so high that they cannot afford to lose it. There is a myriad of issues that they have made use of in a bid to secure the control of the newly formed separate Eastern PC.
The election is, no doubt, a sine qua non for democratising the East. Steps being taken to demilitarise that province augur well for the entire country. But, unfortunately, politicians have, through their greed for power, resorted to a course of action that runs counter to the efforts being made to bring about national integration. They seem to have reduced their campaigns to a question whether the East should have a Tamil or a Muslim as the Chief Minister.
The UNP has pinned all its hopes on SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem and the government on TMVP leader Pillaiyan. Interestingly, the majority community whose leaders depend on the minority vote to win elections has come to hold the balance of power in the East. If Hakeem and Pillaiyan secure their block votes supposed to be equal in size, as speculated in some quarters, then the decisive factor will be the Sinhala vote. Will it be divided between the government and the UNP or will it swing to the former because of its military campaign against the LTTE?
The problem of ethnicity being the basis of contest could have been easily solved, if the UPFA and the UNP-SLMC had offered to appoint the Chief Minister on the so-called rotational basis without playing one community against the other. That way each community would have had an opportunity to rule the province and experience the difficulty of governance. However, it is not too late.
The party that wins can adopt this method, which helped settle a leadership dispute between the late Lalith Athulathmudali and Gamini Dissanayake in the Democratic United National Front (DUNF) in 1992. Peaceful co-existence of different ethnic communities in the East must not be sacrificed on the altar of power politics.
There are two possibilities as for the final outcome of today`s election. The contest being between the government and the UNP-SLMC coalition, either of the two will emerge the winner. If the government wins, it will claim its victory as an endorsement by the people of its politico-military strategy and a vote for the de-merger of the North and the East. It will have benefited from the huge investment it has made in that part of the country. And the UNP will suffer another body blow which it will take years to recover from. There may be another wave of crossovers from the UNP to the government and the UNP`s parliamentary strength might become even lower than that of the JVP, whose members continue to sit together in the House despite a split. The government is likely to go for a general election after winning a decisive battle against the LTTE in the Wanni.
What if the UNP-SLMC combine wins? The ailing UNP will get a turbo boost. It will claim the government`s defeat marks the beginning of its end. The peace lobby will make it out to be a rejection by the Eastern people of the government`s approach to resolving the conflict. The PC polls will be likened to a referendum and the government s loss to a vote against the de-merger. The government will experience difficulties in Parliament, especially at a crucial vote, though it can bank on the dissident JVP MPs numbering ten. The reinvigoration of the UNP and its emergence as a formidable challenge to the government will be inevitable in such an eventuality.
However, even if the government loses today the fact that it has cleared the Eastern Province of the LTTE and held an election will translate into votes in the other parts of the country at a future election. And the TNA`s appeal for supporting the UNP-SLMC combine will leave room for the government to claim that the Opposition won with the help of LTTE, an allegation that the UNP once levelled against President Mahinda Rajapaksa as regard his election in 2005, when the LTTE called a polls boycott.
Speculation in government circles is that if it fails to win in the East, it might go for a snap election to the Southern Provincial Council, where it is confident of trouncing the UNP and that a huge victory in the South will help set off a loss in the East.
Whoever wins, we can be happy that today`s election will give a tremendous impetus to the re-democratisation process in the East. Handing over provincial administration to the Easterners is a prerequisite for demilitarisation of the East.
The government deserves the credit for having achieved that objective. The UNP`s participation in the election has given that exercise legitimacy and the UNP should be commended for not making the mistake that the SLFP committed in 1988, when it boycotted the first ever PC elections thus letting the UNP sweep the polls. The SLMC turned an otherwise dull PC election into a keenly contested electoral exercise with the resignation of its leader from Parliament to enter the fray.
Whether Pillaiyan wins or loses, he has proved his democratic credentials to some extent and his entry into the political mainstream has set an example to his erstwhile master in the Wanni.
The JVP may justifiably claim the credit for having paved the way for an election to the Eastern PC by having the North and the East de-merged.
Finally, it is incumbent upon the party that wins today to make its win a real victory for the people of the East, who have suffered long enough for no fault of theirs. They need opportunities and assistance to rebuild their devastated lives.
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elephanthouse
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 602
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 10 May 2008 19:28:46 GMT Report for Abuse
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Finally, it is incumbent upon the party that wins today to make its win a real victory for the people of the East, who have suffered long enough for no fault of theirs. They need opportunities and assistance to rebuild their devastated lives.
This is really the key point and what matters.
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Voodoo
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 1880
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 10 May 2008 20:41:46 GMT Report for Abuse
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LTTE could not kill democracy but killed thousands and millions property.
They killed the Tamils image internationally and continueing killing. |
Damed
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 2203
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 11 May 2008 01:13:40 GMT Report for Abuse
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Excellent vigilance by Security Forces have minimized incidents by LTTE.
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gamiya
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 1047
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11 May 2008 05:20:29 GMT Report for Abuse
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Eksath Janatha Nidahas Sandanayata Jaya Weva!!
Mahinda Rajapaksa Janadhipathi Thumata Jaya Weva!!
Karu - Mahinda Jathika Rajayata Jaya Weva!!
Sri Lanka Nidahas Pakshayata Jaya Weva!!
Edited By - gamiya - 11 May 2008 05:21:48 GMT |
gamiya
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 1047
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11 May 2008 05:56:52 GMT Report for Abuse
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Here's what LNP Anusam said,
however we all know the truth... The UNP-SLMC alliance has caught the PUNAKKU raja with his Amude down. They never expected the UNP to even contest leave alone go into alliance with the SLMC and for hakeem to contest for the CM post.
Hoooo!! Hoooo!!
The Traitor Ranil/Hakeem/Mangala/Prabha/CBK/Anusam Alliance did not work.
The Eastern People Decided to give a Historic Voctory to Mahinda's UPFA.
And Now, Traitor Ranil and LNP Anusam are Both Caught with their 'USA Stylish Pants Down'
Hoooo!! Hooo! |
gamiya
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 1047
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11 May 2008 06:03:02 GMT Report for Abuse
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No Past SLFP Leader, Not Even SLFP Founder S.W.R.D Bandaranaike was able to deliver SLFP Victories in Area's like Batticaloe...
His Excellency Mahinda Rajapaksa is the Most Effective Leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party.
Hakeem and Traitor Ranil will now have to sell Carnival Ice Cream according to Kollupitiya Chinthanaya...
Ps: Hakeem owns the Carnival Ice Cream shop in Kollupitiya |
gamiya
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 1047
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11 May 2008 06:15:20 GMT Report for Abuse
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At this time of this historic election victory, Let us Remeber the Late Jeyaraj Fernandopulle who sacrificed his life.
The Eastern Provincial Election victory for UPFA show's that Jeyaraj did not die in vain!!
Traitor Ranil has been defeated for the 16th time since 1994. This time the Traitor has taken Hakeem also to Political Oblivian
Edited By - gamiya - 11 May 2008 06:17:32 GMT |
Magnum357
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 1024
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 11 May 2008 10:53:57 GMT Report for Abuse
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| It's politicians who win elections and it's the ordinary people who lose and continue to suffer while ALL politicians enjoy life! |
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