Why blame CBK for polls violence?

The accumulated effect of the three events even overshadowed the peace process, which is making progress despite some hiccups.

Cohabitation ties between the executive president from the PA and a UNF cabinet have been strained though both President Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe have issued statements stressing the need for consensus politics. 

But of late, especially since the ceasefire agreement was signed, the relations between Ms. Kumaratunga and Mr. Wickremesinghe have been far from consensus politics with both sides launching a media war. Statements are issued and news conferences held to justify the stance each has taken. 

It is in this backdrop that the mini polls were held last Wednesday. Though the Prime Minister withdrew from the campaign in what some saw as an statesman-like move, the President threw her full weight behind the PA campaign. She even declined a meeting with the visiting US Assistant Secretary, citing the polls campaign. 

She toured targeted areas on well-focused missions. In Nuwara Eliya, she met Samurdhi officers over lunch at the President's House there. This prompted an angry Samurdhi Minister S. B. Dissanayake to summon Samurdhi officers for a Colombo meeting where they were warned not to be pawns in the hands of powerful politicians. 

On election day, the President made her presence felt in Attanagalle, talking to the people of what was till Wednesday an impregnable Bandaranaike fortress. But the PA not only lost the Gampaha municipality, but also the Attanagalle Pradeshiya Sabha.

The UNF was quick to issue statements, claiming that the victory was an endorsement of its peace initiative. 

The President's campaign was two-pronged. On the one hand she took on the UNF on the campaign trail and on the other she mounted pressure on the government, calling on it to deploy the Army to ensure free and fair polls. She fired out a letter to Interior Minister John Amaratunga soon after she reactivated the election monitoring unit of the Presidential Secretariat. Armed with the data collected by the unit, the President's office issued statements though they were regarded as political propaganda by some sections of the independent media. But the President's letter to Minister Amaratunga was given much publicity in the media. 

However the UNF government did not like the way the President had assessed the situation. Most government members were of the view that the President was trying to make a mountain out of a molehill.

They said a comparison between Wednesday's poll and the December 5 general election would show the number of incidents had fallen by 50 percent. But this does not mean we should be happy. Civic-conscious people should apply pressure on the UNF government to create an atmosphere to hold elections totally free from violence and malpractices.

In this context, the UNF government should not have disregarded the President's call for the deployment of armed forces. 

In the run-up to the elections, five people, including three UNPers, were killed. Had the government heeded the President's advice, the violence could have been at a minimum level and the government could have won a moral victory as well. 

Instead, the government started blaming the President, linking the violence to a delay in setting up the Constitutional Council. Cabinet spokesman G. L. Peiris told a post-election news conference that the violent incidents and malpractices alleged to have taken place would not have occurred, had the President appointed her nominee for the Constitutional Council, the setting in motion independent commissions for police and elections.

But the President hit back, saying even if she appointed her nominee and formally approved the nominations of others, the council could not have been in place before the local government election. She is correct and it is unfair to link the President's failure to appoint her nominee with election violence.

Whether it was the UNF supporters or PA supporters who were responsible for the acts of violence, the brunt of the blame for not taking proper preventive measures has to be borne by the UNF government in general and the Interior Ministry in particular.

According to independent monitors, several ministers and powerful politicians were seen in polling booths influencing or intimidating people. The situation was worse in Hanguranketha and Kalutara. 

In this backdrop it is important to analyse the President's letter to Minister Amaratunga. The letter said: 

"I have received reports from all over the country that there is general intimidation of PA candidates and their supporters by UNF candidates and their supporters during the ongoing campaign for Local Government Elections scheduled to be held tomorrow. These cases of intimidation involve among others, many acts of violence and arrest and locking up of PA supporters on false allegations. 

In several cases bombs have been thrown at their residences thereby causing injury to people and damage to property. Judging by what happened after the 2001 General Elections, which recorded the largest number of cases of election - related violence ever, the People's Alliance and I as the President, have no faith in the Police with regard to their capability to maintain law and order and act independently and impartially with cases of election related violence.

"In this connection, I wish to mention that during the 2001 General Election, the police did not act independently as regards complaints of violence lodged by PA candidates and their supporters with the Police. In many instances, complaints were neither recorded nor inquiries proceeded with and suspects arrested. In some cases, no action had been taken by the police even after two and half months of the complaints being lodged. In the circumstances, the People's Alliance had to go to the supreme court by way of filing FR applications seeking redress for the victims of election violence. As such the ability of the police in acting independently and impartially in relation to cases of election violence is in serious doubt.

"Accordingly, the People's Alliance and I, as the President, consider that the armed forces should be deployed to assist the police during the current election to assist the police in maintaining law and order.

"I have already discussed this matter with the Commissioner of Elections who is prepared to make a recommendation to me in this regard upon receipt of a request to that effect from the IGP in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 104D of the 17th amendment of the Constitution. I have also discussed this matter with the three Service Commanders and the Senior DIG, T.E. Anandarajah in the absence of the IGP. The Commanders are willing to give whatever assistance required by the Police.

I am told that when the IGP discussed this with you, you had told him it would not be necessary at this time to call out the forces. I am surprised by this, because during the period of the PA Government, whenever the UNP made such requests when it was in the Opposition I, as the President, acceded to them. Considering the matter referred to earlier in this letter, the People's Alliance and I, do not believe that the police will be allowed to act independently by Government Ministers during the current Elections. I therefore strongly recommend that the three forces be called out to assist the police during the Local Government Elections to enable them to take up positions in the relevant areas at least by this morning. I wish to emphasize that a decision regarding this will have to be taken today. I look forward to your cooperation regarding this matter."

The UNP's response to the letter was not statesmanlike. The UNPers said that when they were calling for the army's deployment during the December elections, the call was heeded only after the damage was done.

What is surprising in the President's letter is that she had suddenly lost faith in the police — a force that came for much praise from her just three months ago. 

When the incidence of violence was escalating in the run-up to the December 5 election, the PA government — like the UNF now — said it had complete faith in the police and did not see the need to deploy the Army till the last day.

Political violence has become part and parcel of the system especially after the introduction of the proportional representation (PR) system of elections.

Winning elections employing unscrupulous methods is not new for the UNP. Some of its election victories in the past too had been blemished by rigging and violence. But many people who voted for the UNF at the last general elections believed that things would be different under the leadership of Premier Wickremesinghe. But sources close to the Premier say tough orders issued by Mr. Wickremesinghe had not trickled down to the grassroots level for activists to be law abiding and follow election guidelines set out by the party to the very letter.

It appears that the UNF is striving hard to restore norms of decency and democracy. In the circumstances it is important that both the UNF and the PA should hold a postmortem on election violence and malpractice to work out correct remedial steps. 

At this vital phase of our electoral history it is important to give a fair hearing to the opposition. Opposition leader Mahinda Rajapakse charged that intimidation, violence and the killings had prevented PA supporters from actually participating in democratic election. What he meant was that a sizable percentage of the PA voters refrained from voting because of political violence and this helped the UNF to increase its percentage..

Be that as it may, what is more interesting to analyse is the results of the Attanagalle Pradeshiya Sabha which was clinched by the UNF against all odds.

The UNF polled 33,373, a percentage of 50.14 with 12 seats while the PA had polled only 27,552 or 41.39 percent with nine seats. The JVP received 5,107 votes with two seats.

The people in Attanagalle have spoken clear. Can it be construed as the beginning of the decline of the Bandaranaike power?

The capture of Attanagalle was a single significant achievement by the UNF which won all but four local councils — Haputale, Neluwa, Tissamaharama and Katana, where the UNF's nomination had been rejected.

Now it is time to act wisely. The President has no alternative but to go along with the dictates of the UNF, ensuring smooth governance. At the same time the government and the President should put in place the Constitutional Council and the independent commissions to ensure a working democracy.

A close scrutiny of the President's letter to the Interior Minister indicates that the President has had conferred with the three service commanders and the Acting Inspector General of Police Anandaraja of the prevailing situation.

The three service commanders had agreed to accede to the President's request. But the President did not make any mention of the acting IGP's view as to whether the assistance of the armed forces was required at the stage to bring the situation under control.

The President talks about a discussion that took place between Minister Amaratunga and the acting IGP where the president states that the minister had told the acting Police Chief that it was not necessary to call out the forces at that juncture.

The question that arises in this regard is who should decide on the deployment of forces. Is it the IGP who knows best about the capabilities of the police or the minister who tends to take political decisions rather than what is essentially needed?

The ideal situation would have been, a discussion between the Commissioner of Elections and the IGP in terms of the 17th Amendment to the Constitution and then communicate with the President who would have the power to deploy security forces.

But unfortunately both the Elections Commissioner and the IGP had failed to invoke the 17th amendment. 

The Interior Minister having said that it was not necessary to deploy the forces failed to arrest the escalating violence and the President had failed to act accordingly in terms of Article 17 since the police and the Elections Commissioner did not have a proper assessment of the situation.

Besides these, it is important to look at a summary of the Wednesday's election results.

An overall count shows that UNF had polled nearly 59% of the total vote — a massive endorsement of its policies and programmes. At the same time it is clearly visible that the PA vote had been reduced drastically and hit the low point of 32%. The reasons adduced for this are numerous. The main among them being a sense of frustration among PA supporters at the way the country was governed. During the PA's seven year rule, no significant development project got off the ground other than selling profitable government ventures to multinationals, one PA insider said.

"What is important at this moment is a joint effort" he said obviously referring to a national government..

Another significant development was the JVP's achievement. Though it won the Tissamaharama Pradeshiya Sabha, its overall performance was poor compared to the December elections. This is the first time in the political history that the JVP won a local council.

Meanwhile the highest poll for the UNF was recorded from Negombo with a massive 38,429 votes and 18 seats in the 26 seat Municipal Council.

Precisely Wednesday's election results were an endorsement of the government's peace efforts and the local government elections have further strengthened the hand of the UNF government.