Donor reaction can compound matters

The Commissioner of Elections made a maximum effort to have a free and fair election. However, the mechanism he set in motion for the purpose was useful only in areas where the election was peaceful.

In areas where there was a very high degree of violence, not only was the functioning of that mechanism debilitated, but also the presiding officers of many polling stations too refrained from reporting to the authorities the incidents of violence that took place before their own eyes for fear of threats to their lives. 

Although this was the greatest electoral plunder in the history of elections in this country, the government managed just to get a minimal victory and not in a way that would suffice for a stable administration.

At the election of 1994 the PA had got 105 seats. With the 7 members of the SLMC and the single member from Chandrasekaran's party the PA had a majority of one seat in Parliament.

There was also a group of MP's who had not joined the government directly but supported it from the outside. 

The 9 MPs of the EPDP, the 3 MPs of the PLOTE and the 7 MPs of the CWC were a force that supported the government from outside. 

However the PA now has got 107 MPs only and this includes the MPs of the parties which joined the PA recently. With the five EPDP members and four NUA members backing the PA, the new administration's strength has risen to 116. 

By the time of his death Mr. Ashraff was quite embittered both with the President and the PA. He had expressed his feelings to the other leaders of his party. In the circumstances there is discontent among the other representatives of the SLMC too about the PA. Even if a government is formed with the greatest difficulty, the greatest challenge that the PA might face will be to gain recognition as a democratic administration by the western world. 

The government had totally rejected the request made by the European Union (EU) that an independent elections commission be appointed before the parliamentary election. When the EU sent a group of observers to observe the election, that too did not please the government. The government does not appear even to have taken seriously the fact that it was conducting an election in the presence of a group of observers sent collectively by Sri Lanka's donor countries. The government's attitude seems to be "first of all let us win the election by whatever means, and let us settle accounts with them later". The government might hoodwink anybody else about the violent and corrupt nature of the parliamentary election, but it cannot hoodwink the observation team of the European Union. What it means is that it might be possible to hoodwink the people of this country but not the western world. This fact in time will inevitably and decisively affect aid given to Sri Lanka. 

Sri Lanka's donor group has not met for two years now. On the first occasion it did not meet in view of the presidential election. On the second occasion it did not meet in view of the parliamentary election.

Although there is now the need to hold the meeting in December because the parliamentary election has ended, the nature of the parliamentary election will certainly have a decisive effect on aid given to this country. If a situation emerges in which Sri Lanka is no longer considered a democratic state there is the possibility of a threat to aid, and even of imposition of an embargo on aid to Sri Lanka. Such a situation might worsen the instability of the PA government. 

Only the JVP has been able to make a strong showing at this election. It has been able to prove in practice that it is an extremely strong party and that it has the discipline necessary to enter the democratic stream in spite of its previous mistakes. Due to this very reason it has been able to win a strong popular approval befitting its new image. The UNP which is the main opposition acted with a blind faith in a victory it was going to get but failed to understand beforehand the challenges that might arise and to display an organised and mature activity to suit them. 

If the UNP had been able to recognise its serious mistakes of the past and to be humble enough to admit them before the people and had been able to foresee what the government was going to do and had been able to enlighten and organise its own forces to meet the government's actions, it might have been able to defeat the government in spite of all the anti-democratic actions of the government. 

The movement that faced one of the greatest defeats at this election was the Sihala Urumaya. Although the Sinhala People are conscious of their Sinhalaness, they proved that they are not so extremist as to endorse a racist programme which gives unnecessary weightage to Sinhalaness.

Inside the glass house

Editorial/ Opinion Contents