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Victors bask in new found glory as vanquished lick their wounds
Of those who contested the Parliamentary elections, over 40 lost their seats. While most of them were from the UPFA, there were others from the UNP, JVP and the ITAK. The Sunday Times spoke to some of the winners and losers who had been defeated despite years of experience as politicians.
Young UNP MP Mayantha Dissanayake from Kandy said the 2013 Provincial Council election had been a good experience for his campaign. He said it helped him to build up his vote base. Mr. Dissanayake said he went from house to house meeting people during the campaign. He also said the social media helped him to reach out to the people, gaining him around 30,000 friends on Facebook.
Furthermore, he had used the telephone to reach out to his electorate. JVP’s new face in Parliament, Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa from Kalutara said he was simply lucky. “The UNP failed to field strong candidates to contest the Kalutara district, while the voters rejected the powerful UPFA politicians who were branded as corrupt. Hence, there were a large number of floating votes which worked in my favour.”
The fact that I am a doctor worked to my advantage,” he said.
Udaya Gammanpila of the Pivithru Hela Uramaya who contested under the UPFA ticket, thanked the media for giving him free propaganda.
He said that, during the campaign, the media always portrayed him with Mahinda Rajapaksa which gave him recognition. “If there was some news about the former president I was there, and this helped me,” he said. “I was always identified with Mahinda Rajapaksa,” he added.
He further elaborated that, even cartoonists had caricatured him along with the former president.
In addition, Gammanpila was also designated lead debater for the UPFA in radio chat shows and television interviews. “I was visible all the time, which helped me greatly,” he said.
A social media savvy Gammanpila had also successfully reached out to the 100,000 odd followers in his fan page for his propaganda. “Sri Lankans worldwide are on my fan page,” he said. Among the losers, many blamed the split in the UPFA for their downfall. Veteran politicians who have been in politics for decades and were defeated, were unanimous that their defeat was brought about by their own party members.
However, a young UPFA candidate Udith Bandara who lost attributed other reasons for his defeat.
He said the Badulla district where he contested, was a UNP stronghold and it was difficult to break the bond. “The people were plainly not with Mahinda Rajapaksa, as reflected in the results from Nuwara-Eliya and Badulla,” he said.Mr. Bandara said the other factor that worked against him was that parliamentary elections was scheduled too soon, after the Uva PC elections. “The UNP won the Uva PC elections by a massive margin and the trend continued,” he said.
However, he said it is somewhat consoling that the results were ‘not quite a whitewash’, as the UPFA still holds its base with three strong candidates in the district. R. Yogarajan, a Nuwara Eliya district UNP candidate who also lost his seat said he had to compete with people in the calibre of P. Digambaram and Radhakrishnan, who had already established themselves in the Plantation sector. “They have their trade unions, the National Union of Workers with massive membership in the district,” he said. Mr. Yogarajan said although he had his trade union, the United National Progressive Union, it was only 18-months-old and did not have a large membership base. Moreover, he said the had been working in the Plantation sector only for the last five years. It is learnt that the UNP leadership had sent him to the Nuwara Eliya district to muster support for the party. In the past, many candidates who had contested under the UNP ticket, had crossed over to the ruling party on winning.
He further said t he did not have sufficient manpower to encourage people to go and vote on election day.
It is learnt that, although it was against the election law for parties to persuade people to go and vote, in the Plantation sector it was done openly. “Only then could we muster votes,” he said.
JVP candidate Sunil Handunetti said the JVP views an individual member’s defeat as a loss for the whole party.
In hindsight, he said the election was centered around Mahinda Rajapaksa alone, with people concerned only with one personality. “There were opposing factions who wanted Rajapaksa to either win or lose. Hence, in the milieu, we lost the new voters,” he said.
He said although the JVP did not get as many votes as expected, they have not experienced a setback, as the vote count indicates its vote base has increased. “Our representation in Parliament has also increased from three to six,” he said.
The former MPs defeated are: Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena (UPFA-Matara), V.K. Indika (UPFA-Hambantota), Nandimitra Ekanayake(UPFA-Matale), Rohana Dissanayake (UPFA-Matale), Uditha Lokubandara (UPFA-Badulla), S.B.Dissanayake (UPFA-Kandy), Mahinda Samarasinghe (UPFA-Kalutara), Vijith Vijithamuni Soysa (UPFA-Moneragala), Shantha Bandara (UPFA-Kurunegala), Nirupama Rajapaksa (UPFA-Hambantota), Sunil Handunetti (JVP-Matara), R. Yogarajan (UNP-Nuwara Eliya), Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekera (UPFA-Digamadulla). Jagath Pushpakumara (UPFA-Moneragala), Piyasena Gamage (UPFA-Galle), Milroy Fernando (UPFA-Puttalam), P. Dayaratne (UNP-Ampara), Lakshman Seneviratne (UPFA-Badulla) and Tissa Karaliyadde (UPFA-Anuradhapura), Upeksha Swarnamali (UPFA-Gampaha), Rosy Senanayaka (UNP-Colombo,), P. Selvarasa (ITAK-Batticaloa) Suresh Premachandran (ITAK-Jaffna), S.Vino Noharathalingam (ITAK- Vanni) , Felix Perera (UPFA-Gampaha), Sarath Kumara Gunaratne (UPFA- Gampaha) Pandu Bandaranayaka (UPFA-Gampaha), Nirmala Kothalawala (UPFA- Kalutara), Gunaratne Weerakoon (UPFA-Galle), Hemal Gunasekera (UPFA-Matara), Chandrkumar Murugesu (UPFA-EPDP-Jaffna), Selvesthiri Alantin (UPFA-EPDP/Jaffna), A.L.M.Athaullah (UPFA- Digamadulla) Dayashirtha Tissera (UPFA-Puttalam), Neomal Perera (UPFA-Puttalam) Anthony Victor Perera (UPFA-Puttalam), Sanee Rohana (UPFA-Ratnapura) Lalith Dissanayaka-UPFA-Kegalle), Y.G.Padmasiri – UPFA -Kegalle) Athauda Seneviratne (UPFA-Kegalle).
W.B.Ekanayaka (UPFA-Anuradhapura), C.ASooriyaaracchchi (UPFA- Polonnaruwa) P.H.P.Piyasena (UPFA-Digamadulla), Unais Farook (UPFA-Wanni), Noordeen Mashoor (UPFA-Wanni) Jayaratne Herath (UPFA-Kurunegala), Salinda Dissanayaka (UPFA-Kurunegala), Chamika Buddhadasa (UPFA-Badulla), Rohana Pushpakumara (UPFA-Badulla), Wijeya Dahanayaka (UPFA-Matara), Nimal Senarath Wijesinghe (UNP-Kurunegala) Ajith Perera (Independent MP Galle), M.L.A.M.Hizbullah (UPFA- Batticaloa), Ruwan Ranatunga (UPFA-Gampaha)
Eight MPs in the last Parliament who contested and lost were reappointed through the National List. Seven were from the UPFA and one from the JVP. The UNP also appointed a defeated candidate through the National List. He is M. Navavi, a former Provincial council member who contested from the Puttalam District as a nominee of Rishard Badurdeen’s ACMC.