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Commonwealth SG election
Hopes kept alive though late bid failed
Sri Lanka's last minute effort to contest the Commonwealth Secretary General's post failed last week, but until the last moments hopes were kept alive that Sri Lanka's candidate - former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar - would stand a chance.

Foreign Minister Tyronne Fernando told The Sunday Times that the decision to delay the voting to select the Secretary General was to consider whether Sri Lanka should withdraw its candidate, but after analysing the situation Sri Lanka decided to go ahead with the election as it believed that Mr. Kadirgamar had a chance.

The limited time for campaigning and the absence of the President (Chandrika Kumaratunga) and the candidate himself was a drawback in the contest in which the incumbent President New Zealand's Don McKinnon was elected by receiving 41 votes as against the opponent's 11 votes. Sri Lanka's campaign was supported by the presence of the two High Commissioners in Britain and India, Faiz Mustapha and Mangala Moonesinghe respectively while Minister Fernando himself was also lobbying for votes.

'The anticipated support was not received', Mr. Fernando who returned to the island on Friday said. It was widely believed that Mr. Kadirgamar would receive wide support from the African countries, but in the final outcome it appeared to be different.
'Some of the countries may have committed themselves to the incumbent candidate, thereby Mr. Kadirgamar failing to gain their votes', Mr. Fernando said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Fernando said that the opinion about the expulsion of Zimbabwe was now changing with many of the countries including Australia which earlier called for the expulsion now showing a change in their stance. A committee consisting of six nations headed by Jamaica has been appointed to look into the return of Zimbabwe to the Commonwealth.

Mr. Fernando said that he believed that the split within the Commonwealth over Zimbabwe was gradually easing with the appointment of the Committee to look into the possibility of accommodating Zimbabwe in the Commonwealth. Meanwhile Sri Lanka's proposal to expand the reference in the Commonwealth Declaration to the importance of education to include both formal and informal education including distance education for the young and old, was included in the final resolution.

In a related development Foreign Minister Fernando was appointed to the prestigious Commonwealth Minister's Action Group (C-MAG) consisting of eight of the 54 member states. The other members appointed are Canada, India, Malta, Bahamas, Tanzania, Samoa and Lesotho. Mr. Fernando will serve on the Group for two years.
The task of the C-MAG would be to ensure that the member states conduct is in accordance with the Harare Declaration.

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