The Political Column

15th October 2000

Poll assails democracy

By our Political Correspondent
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People have spoken once again, giving no party an absolute majority. Perhaps, it is a signal that all parties should get together for the common good of the country.

As predicted by poll analysts, the election held for the 11th parliament was a close finish. Both the PA and the UNP recorded a decline in its vote bank in relation to the increase in voter population, though the UNP registered a slight improvement in some areas. The PA's strength has declined from 48.94% in 1994 to 45.10% in 2000 while the UNP's vote has dropped from 44.04% in 1994 to 40.21%. The results also indicate a growth in the JVP vote bank — from 1.13% in 1994 to 6%.

President Kumaratunga and NUA leader Rauf Hakeem at Temple Tress on Friday
President Kumaratunga and NUA leader Rauf Hakeem at Temple Tress on Friday

The election results made the deflated PA to seek the support of minority parties once again to form the government. By Thursday its task appeared tough when the SLMC dominated National Unity Alliance placed before the PA its demands which the latter found too difficult to meet.

Renewing the late NUA leader M. H. M. Ashraff's demand, the NUA politburo and the high command decided that the party should call for the removal of A. H. M. Fowzie from the cabinet. Mr. Fowzie has performed well in the Colombo district, coming third in preference voting with more than 100,000 votes. The NUA claims it has 10 seats in the 11th parliament — one in Batticaloa, one in Wanni, one in Kandy, one National list seat and six through the PA ticket.

In the Ampara district, the NUA claims four of its members, including Somaweera Dassanayake, who contested on the PA ticket have been elected. In the Trincomalee district, two of the three elected members are from the NUA, it says.

The NUA now demands from the PA that two of its members should be included in the PA national list in a bid to increase its strength to 12.

The NUA claims that in terms of the electoral agreement with the PA, its members will not come under the PA Whip.

These factors make the NUA a force to be reckoned with and place it in a position of strength. In other words, if the NUA pulls out of the government, the PA will lose its majority.

The NUA was also not happy over the conduct of supporters of Minister Anuruddha Ratwatte on the election day. An angry NUA leader Rauf Hakeem in a letter to the President demanded tough action against the miscreants if the PA wanted his party's support.

The Elections Commissioner had to annul the voting in several booths in the Kandy district due to the unprecedented levels of malpractices, intimidation and violence.

One of the areas where rigging was rampant was Harispattuwa, which was won by the UNP by a slim majority. In one polling booth in Harispattuwa, angry crowds broke open ballot boxes and threw away ballot papers stuffed by thugs.

Armed men wearing masks made the free exercise of the franchise a mockery in many electorates, including Patha Dumbara and Udu Dumbara where the PA victory made many people to question the outcome.

Minister and the PA General Secretary D. M. Jayaratne openly accused Minister Ratwatte of indulging in malpractices in the Kandy district. After the results were announced, several PA candidates made a statement to the media, saying that Mr. Jayaratne's allegation was his personal opinion and it has nothing to do with the PA.

Large-scale rigging and malpractices were also reported from the Kurunegala, Matara, Galle, Nuwara Eliya and Anuradhapura districts. There had been rigging in Colombo, too, but it made little impact in the face of the UNP support there.

Apart from these areas, the elections could be described as moderately fair. But the Centre for Monitoring Election Violence said on Thursday it had called on the Commissioner of Elections to annul the polls in 17 electorates. The CMEV and the other independent polls monitor PAFFREL have called for effective and combined action involving the public, the government and the opposition to prevent malpractices in future elections.

Though it was difficult to make an accurate analysis of the outcome of the polls because of rigging and malpractices, a rough assessment can be made. The PA was defeated in the Colombo district where the burden of cost of living became a major deciding factor.

The UNP knew it would win the Colombo district but it was proved wrong when it projected the trend to the rural areas. Besides the UNP strongholds of Colombo and Badulla, it was only in the Hambantota and Polonnaruwa districts that the UNP won after hectic campaigning and hardwork.

The UNP was routed badly in predominantly UNP areas such as Kegalle, Kandy, Nuwara Eliya and Kurunegala districts.

In the Hambantota district, UNP candidate Sajith Premadasa received 98,968 preferences out of a total of 119,074 votes polled by the UNP. It has shot him up as the candidate who had received the highest percentage in any district in Sri Lanka. His percentage is as high as 83 percent. In Tissamaharama, his percentage was 91 percent while in Tangalle and Mulkirigala, it was 81 percent. In Beliatta, Mr. Premadasa had been able to muster a percentage of 80 percent. He was pitted against a formidable PA candidate in Minister Mahinda Rajapakse who also polled nearly 90,000 in the Hambantota district as the main PA candidate. Both Mahinda and his brother Chamal had been able to emerge victorious while Deputy Minister Nirupama Rajapakse lost her seat in parliament.

In Colombo suburbs, the PA was heavily polled making MEP leader Dinesh Gunawardene second to G.L. Peiris in the preference list. Analysts say the MEP had gained more than the PA as a result of the PA-MEP electoral alliance.

Several prominent members lost their seats in the battle for preferences. Trade Minister Kingsley Wickremaratne could not make it to the PA's winning list of eight members from the Colombo district. Amal Senathilankara, Susil Moonesinghe, Nawalage Bennett Cooray, Gamini Tillekesiri and Dixon J. Perera — all MPs in the last parliament — lost their seats.

In the UNP list in Colombo, UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe polled the highest number of preferences in the entire island with 363,668 votes and his percentage is 82.5 percent.

In Batticaloa, the SLMC strongman M.L.M. Hisbullah lost his seat, but he is likely to come through the national list while in Moneragala, Minister Hema Ratnayake failed to make it. UNP's Dharmadasa Banda and Renuka Herath too were not elected.

In the Gampaha district, Deputy Minister Athula Nimalasiri Jayasinghe and Upali Gunaratne did not succeed from the PA. Reginald Perera, Pradeep Hapangama and Sarachchandra Rajakaruna were among the UNP failures.

UNP dissidents who formed the alternative group were also largely rejected by the people. Among them were Nanda Mathew, Susil Moonesinghe and Ariyaratne Walpitagama.

Wisva Warnapala,, Jagath Pushpakumara, A.V. Suraweera, Yoosus Pereis, Bandula Basnayake, Sumithra Priyanganie Abeyweera, Srimani Athulathmudali, A.M.S. Adikari, Rohan Abeygunasekera, H.M.A. Lokubanda, U.L.M. Farook, Kabir Hashim are the other prominent politicians who had joined the band of losers.

At the 1994 general elections, the PA polled about 3.8 million or 48.94 of the total polled. At this election, the PA polled 3.9 million or 45.10. In 1994, it secured 91 seats from district lists and 14 from the national list. In Tuesday's election, it secured 94 from the district list and 13 from the national list.

The UNP in 1994 polled 3.49 million or 44.04 of the total polled. At this election, it polled 3.47 million or 40.21 percent. Accordingly, it secured 81 seats on the district basis and 13 from the national list making a total of 94 at the 1994 general elections. At this election, the UNP secured 77 seats from district lists and 12 from the national list making a total of 89.

The PA's performance was rather disappointing, given the ammunition it had at its disposal. The government was facing charges of economic mismanagement, malpractices and abuse of power, but the UNP failed to capitalise on these allegations. In actual terms, the government performances was better than the 1994 elections where there was a massive trend towards a change of government. In spite of this, the PA could secure only 105 seats and after six years at a time when its popularity was waning, the PA managed to increase its strength to 107. Of course, this includes the NUA's six members.

The JVP, meanwhile, has become a formidable third force with its vote base increasing from a mere 1.13 percent in 1994 to 6 percent in 2000. This indicates a clear erosion of votes from the vote banks of the major parties.

Sihala Urumaya and the NUA also polled more than 100,000 votes — votes otherwise would have been distributed among the major parties. It has become a special feature in Sri Lankan politics that any major party would have to solicit the support of minority parties to form a government. The district proportional representation system had helped smaller parties to be represented in parliament. If not for the PR system, these parties, including the JVP the Sihala Urumaya, and even the NUA would have been pushed into political oblivion.

Be that as it may, opposition parties allege that the election was marred by violence and intimidation. The Elections Commissioner had a meeting with party secretaries to consult them before deciding on a repoll in the Kandy district. The Elections Commissioner who met party leaders and their lawyers on Thursday afternoon told them that he had annulled 22 polling booths which accounted for 15,000 votes in the Kandy district.

He allowed political parties to make their submissions. The PA said a re-poll was not necessary as the Commissioner had moved to annul the polling in booths where malpractices had taken place.

The UNP's counsel Tilak Marapana said that annulling elections in 22 booths would not be sufficient. "There was intimidation on an unprecedented scale and a mass-scale rigging. The polling was held intermittently and not continuously between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. as stipulated by the Elections Commissioner. In the circumstances, the time given is grossly insufficient," he said, urging the Elections Commissioner to seriously consider a re-poll in the districts where serious rigging had been reported.

"In some instances, it has been reported that armed gangs under the patronage of a prominent PA politician had stormed the polling booths. In such a situation, it is difficult to decide on the final result since a free election has been thwarted. It is not possible to put the 15,000 votes in question either to the PA or the UNP and decide that there would not have been a change in the final result. What should be considered is the number of preferences lost by candidates and the right of the individual to be elected. If these votes are taken by the people who were not elected due to inadequate number of preferences they received, the result could have been entirely different," Mr. Marapana said.

However, the Elections Commissioner went on to declare the final results of the elections to the utter dismay of many political parties.

Soon after the final results were announced the two main parties wasted no time in wooing other parties which had won seas.

The PA's task to woo the NUA became difficult when Mr. Hakeem demanded the setting up of a commission to probe the Kandy incidents in which two NUA supporters were killed.

After heavy bargaining, the PA agreed to meet some of the NUA demands and the NUA too appeared to have softened its stance.

On Thursday, when the NUA leadership discussed the party's position, a difference of opinion arose. Mr. Hakeem did not want to stick to the Fowzie demand. He suggested that the party must forget the Fowzie issue. But others pointed out that the Fowzie issue had been mentioned in a note communicated between Mr. Ashraff's widow Ferrial and the party leadership.

Mr. Hakeem later on Thursday met the President and discussions that pursued ended in drafting a memorandum of understanding on Friday.

It is now time for all political parties to get together and apply pressure on the government to set up an independent election, Police and Public Service Commission to ensure that elections would be free and fair in the future.

The JVP will definitely keep its faith in the democratic process and will not resort to an armed insurrection if it can pin hopes on the system. If pressure is mounted on the government through a concerted effort involving all political parties, the government might yield to the demand.

The opposition should also agitate for an independent body or trust to manage the government media to prevent their misuse by the government as seen during the run-up to Tuesday's polls.

The state television on the pretext of commemorating the birth anniversary of Vijaya Kumaratunga went hammer and tong to propagate its doctrine and sling mud at the UNP hours before the General Election.

These things will not augur well for democracy which Sri Lanka has cherished for more than half a century.

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