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Sri Lanka Govt. bags crucial EP, vows to finish off Tigers
Monday, 12 May 2008 - 9:30 AM SL Time
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The government-TMVP alliance Saturday bagged the 37-member EPC by taking 20 seats including two bonus seats. The UNP secured 15 seats while the JVP and Tamil Democratic National Alliance (TDNA) obtained a seat each.
Of the ten electorates in the Eastern Province the government-TMVP combine secured Batticaloa, Kalkuda, Paddirippu (Batticaloa District), Seruvila (Trincomalee District) and Ampara, Samanthurai and Pottuvil (Digamadulla District). The UNP took control of Kalmunai electorate in the Digamadulla District and Trincomalee and Muttur electorates in the Trincomalee District.
The government yesterday declared Saturday s victory at the first election to the Eastern Provincial Council (EPC) would strengthen the ongoing campaign to defeat the Vanni Tigers.
Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa asserted the comfortable victory gained by the government-TMVP alliance would be a tremendous boost to the military campaign in the Vanni.
This was an unprecedented victory in the battle against Vanni Tigers and would definitely quicken the collapse of the enemy s Vanni bastion. Rajapaksa said a primary reason for the success in the Eastern Province was the government s electoral pact with the breakaway LTTE faction which contested the poll on the UPFA ticket.
The UPFA-TMVP alliance last March bagged Batticaloa Municipal Council while the TMVP captured all eight local government bodies in the Batticaloa District.
The Karuna faction of the LTTE which backed the military campaign in the Eastern Province recently received Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake s recognition in time for local government elections last March. On the strength of the strength of the TMVP s performance at the poll, the Eastern Tigers would have the right to nominate its leader Pilliyan as the first Chief Minister of the Province. In the run up to the poll, the TMVP and M. L. A. M. Hisbullah agreed that the post of the Chief Minister would be given to the party which gained the highest number of seats.
Political sources said had SLMC leader Rauf Hakeem accepted government political strategist Basil Rajapaksa s invitation to join the SLFP led alliance Muslims could have secured more seats in the EPC.
Hisbullah in a brief interview with SLRC yesterday pledged to extend his full support to the Council. The former PA minister expressed the belief all communities could work together for the betterment of people living in the East. Hisbullah quit the SLMC after Hakeem reached an agreement with the UNP.
JHU heavyweight Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka asserted Saturday s victory was an endorsement of the Sri Lankan State s battle against LTTE terrorism. On the other hand, the government s victory had caused an irrevocable setback to the UNP-SLMC alliance which sought to undermine the ongoing efforts to militarily defeat the LTTE. Speaking on behalf of the ruling coalition, Ranawaka said four Colombo-based embassies and some NGOs backed the opposition campaign. In fact, they had arranged the UNP s marriage with the SLMC and finally forced the SLMC to contest the election on the UNP ticket, the minister said, asserting had the government failed it would have given a lifeline to the LTTE. The LTTE s mouthpiece in Parliament the TNA, too, had suffered a heavy setback, the minister said.
Fielding questions, he said the recent LTTE artillery fire directed at Weli Oya region and the sinking of a navy vessel in Trincomalee harbour close on the heels of Friday s Ampara massacre and the mortar attack carried out on a Sinhala hamlet in Ampara had been part of the enemy s strategy to discourage government supporters.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa on May Day declared an opposition victory would bring Tigers back to the East.
Political sources said the Somawansa faction of the JVP, too, had suffered a political debacle with the party coming a distant third by polling just 9,390 votes (1.59 per cent). In the run up to the poll, the Somawansa faction attacked the government-TMVP alliance on two major issues. The JVP accused India of backing the alliance as it wanted to install an administration friendly to her. Unlike the previous occasions, the government didn t even invite the JVP to contest the election on its ticket.
The sources said the recent break-up of the party which had denied the JVP its top speaker Wimal Weerawansa to spearhead the campaign, too, contributed to the poor show. But even if Weerawansa had led the campaign it wouldn t have made a significant improvement to the final result, the sources said.
The PFLT (People s Front of Liberation Tigers) polled 383 votes (0.06 per cent). The fielding of candidates on the PFLT ticket which received political recognition in December 1989 during Ranasinghe Premadasa s presidency fuelled speculation of Tigers joining the fray. Well informed sources said the candidates who contested the election had nothing to do with the original PFLT which had been the political wing of the LTTE.
SLMC leader Rauf Hakeem who quit Parliament to lead the Eastern campaign would return to Parliament early next month, political sources said. The prorogation of Parliament by President Mahinda Rajapaksa for nearly a month would prevent Hakeem from taking one of the two vacant National List slots in Parliament. Hakeem along with National List MP M. T. Hassen Ali, SLMC General Secretary and National List MP Basheer Segudawood, SLMC Chairman quit Parliament to join the fray. The sources said Ali, too, was likely to return to Parliament through the National List. Although some sources speculated Basheer Segudawood would be named the Opposition Leader of the Eastern Provincial Council, others asserted he, too, would be keen to return to Parliament. Hakeem s vacancy in Parliament had been already filled by Naushad who contested the last parliamentary election on the SLMC ticket but subsequently switched his allegiance to the UNP.
The SLMC contested the election on the UNP ticket in return for UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe s assurance that in the event of their victory an SLMC Chief Minister would lead the EPC. The sources said the SLMC had also given up its long standing demand that the UNP wouldn t have a right to nominate Muslim candidates. Under the same agreement, the SLMC leader allowed Naushad, the senior UNPer in charge of Muslim affairs in the East to enter Parliament.
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PolBanda
Joined: Sep 2006
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 12 May 2008 02:35:19 GMT Report for Abuse
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RH,
Please do not try to destroy our country and the society by leaning with LTTE |
TrueFactor
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 12 May 2008 02:42:30 GMT Report for Abuse
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Piilyan has won because of MR's liberation of east. We congradulate him for his realization that to become a peace loving Sri Lankan.
Velu gon namba's end is so near...ha ha ha |
EEELamaya
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 12 May 2008 02:42:35 GMT Report for Abuse
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Polls results victory for fraud: TNA
Pilliyan will be begging VP to come back and rescue him from the clutches of greedy Sinhalayas -- just wait!
Edited By - EEELamaya - 12 May 2008 02:45:44 GMT |
TrueFactor
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12 May 2008 02:45:35 GMT Report for Abuse
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I think east candidates of TNA are no longer valid since Pillyan and MR won the east now...ha ha ha
Loosers shouting for nothing... |
EEELamaya
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12 May 2008 02:50:01 GMT Report for Abuse
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TrueFactor:
What is TNA? Do they exist?
TNA is still the representative of NE in the parliment. But, TNA does not care. Eventually Tiger will rampage through East and Pilliyan will have to beg VP or run to Diyatalawa, like Karuna did, to hide!
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TrueFactor
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12 May 2008 02:53:51 GMT Report for Abuse
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[Eventually Tiger will rampage through East and Pilliyan will have to beg VP or run to Diyatalawa, like Karuna did, to hide! ]
Pal, you know how to dream so well. May be you should go to sleep again start dreaming!
Goodnight!! |
Sinthaka
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 12 May 2008 03:18:24 GMT Report for Abuse
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So this is world's No1. Serial Looser Wichkremasingham's 20th loss?
This must be a world record!
Congratulations!
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12 May 2008 03:16:49 GMT