All set for gruelling campaign
Nominations peaceful, major parties confident
Leaders of the PA, the UNP and the JVP yesterday expressed confidence
of victory after thousands of candidates representing 18 political parties
and 42 independent groups completed the nominations process and set the
stage for a gruelling and tumultuous campaign for the December 5 general
elections.
The deadline for nominations ended at noon yesterday and about 18 nomination
lists of political parties and independent groups were rejected, but there
were no major incidents except for a clash in Kandy which last year, too,
had been a hotbed of election violence.
A total of 4610 candidates will be contesting the upcoming polls in
22 districts.
In Galle, Nuwara Eliya, Kandy and Puttalam districts objections were
raised to the UNP list, but all were overruled, elections officials said.
Objections were raised against the PA list in the Matale and Ratnapura
districts but they also were over-ruled.
Soon after nominations in almost all districts, supporters of the main
parties took to the streets carrying out their campaigns, but no major
incidents were reported, though there had been more than 50 elections related
incidents of violence in the run-up to the nominations.
The UNP and the JVP are contesting in all 22 districts while the PA
is contesting in all, except the Jaffna district, where it is throwing
its weight behind the EPDP which will be pitted against an alliance of
other Tamil parties.
Significant features of yesterday's nominations were seen at Gampaha
where former Speaker Anura Bandaranaike handed over the PA list while Minster
A. H. M. Fowzie headed the PA list for the important Colombo district.
Both Mr. Bandaranaike and Mr. Fowzie expressed confidence the PA would
win the two major districts.
Deputy Media Minister Alavi Moulana said the PA's election campaign
would be conducted on a low-key this year with President Kumaratunga also
keeping out of many rallies for security reasons.
He, however, said the PA was confident of victory in a situation where
the opposition had too many parties claiming stakes.
The UNP's Colombo list is headed by party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe,
the Gampaha list by deputy leader Karu Jayasuriya and the Ratnapura list
by assistant leader Gamini Atukorale.
A confident Mr. Atukorale told The Sunday Times yesterday the UNP was
on its path to victory and even the efficient rigging machine of the PA
administration would not be able to stop it.
Asked for a forecast, he said the UNP was aiming at about 120 seats
for a solid administration instead of a shaky coalition.
The third force in the general elections will be the JVP and its Colombo
district list was yesterday handed over by propaganda secretary Wimal Weerawansa
who said the party was aiming high and hoped to be elected to office. Even
otherwise, he believed that neither of the two major parties would be able
to form a stable government without the direct or indirect support of the
JVP.
The major incident yesterday was in Kandy where a heated argument broke
out between PA dissident and now UNP candidate Lakshman Kiriella and the
police after the PA was reportedly allowed to take in seven of its members
into the restricted area where nominations were being accepted while the
UNP were restricted to four.
Soon after nominations, two factions supporting Mr. Kiriella and PA
candidate Sarath Amunugama clashed in the Kandy town, but police soon brought
the situation under control.
SLMC leader Rauf Hakeem contesting from the Kandy district on the UNP
ticket said there was a growing feeling that the PA government was on its
way out and he feared it might not go without thuggery or rigging, though
he hoped it would not be on so large a scale as last year's elections.
Last year, PA district leaders Anuruddha Ratwatte and D. M. Jayaratne
were known to be involved in inter-party clashes also but this time, Mr.
Jayaratne has been moved to the national list.
Britain playing double game on terrorism
From Neville de Silva in London
The proposed 10-nation Commonwealth special committee intended to stiffen
the international efforts at fighting global terrorism is facing problems
even before it can get off the ground.
Though no official announcement has been made, this committee, a belated
attempt by the Commonwealth Secretariat to make a practical contribution
to the anti-terrorist campaign, was to consist of senior ministers of the
10 nations, including Sri Lanka, to give it a political strength.
But Britain, also a member of the proposed committee, does not want
political level representation, well-placed sources in London told The
Sunday Times. Britain is understood to have indicated to Commonwealth Secretary-General
Don McKinnon that any such committee should be established at the level
of officials and not ministers.
While this talk persists in diplomatic circles, it was not possible
to confirm the story since the Committee has not been officially established.
London is expected to put up stiff resistance against political level
representation that would bind the British government, morally at least,
to implement decisions of the Commonwealth committee. The danger is if
Britain resists, Australia and Canada, two other members of the proposed
committee and key figures in combating terrorism, might also feel inclined
to go along with Britain.
Australia and Canada have substantial immigrant and refugee populations.
Some terrorist groups banned in Britain function there.Their supporters
are known to be involved in fund-raising and criminal activities in support
of terrorism back home. Canada has just introduced in parliament a tougher
anti-terrorism law. Australia, a refugee-accepting Caucasian country, still
does not have a domestic law against fund-raising for terrorism and other
terrorist activities.
Row over guidelines
By Laila Nasry
The Attorney General and lawyers for the UNP and Lake House are to make
practical suggestions to the Supreme Court on Tuesday on how the Elections
Commissioner's guidelines for fair coverage of elections could be implemented.
This comes on a proposal made by the Supreme Court after it took up
a petition filed by UNP Deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriya, complaining that
the state-controlled Lake House newspapers were blatantly violating the
commissioner's guidelines.
Attorney Upul Jayasuriya appearing for the UNP deputy leader charged
that Lake House newspapers were daily indulging in the most vituperative
attacks on the UNP, the worst being the allegations of links with the LTTE.
The Elections Commissioner in guidelines issued to the media on October
19 laid down important principles.
*Newspapers should refrain from being biased and partisan towards a
party, candidate or independent group.
*A party, candidate or independent group should be given the opportunity
to respond to any misrepresented news item.
* Opinion polls should include the organisation that conducted it, methodology
used, sample size, margin of error and field work dates.
*Election coverage of meetings, news conferences and statements should
be subject to Right of Reply.
* Government media must be particularly scrupulous in their coverage.
Attorney General K. C. Kamalasabayson in response said he believed the
commissioner had no power to issue directives as prayed for in the UNP
deputy leader's petitions. He said the guidelines were not mandatory and
nothing could be done if they were ignored.
President in London for media blitz
President Chandrika Kumaratunga yesterday left for London on what has been
described as a 'working visit' during which she would be giving a series
of interviews to the media.
A statement from the Presidential Secretariat said she had left on a
'working visit' and was expected to return in a few days.
President Kumaratunga during the visit would meet Commonwealth Secretary
General Don McKinnon to discuss her initiative to form a 'Commonwealth
Coalition Against Terrorism,' the secretariat said.
The President has been invited by several British and international
media to speak about Sri Lanka's policy concerns prior to the forthcoming
general elections. She has also been invited to address the Oxford Union,
it said.
The President during her visit will give a series of interviews to the
BBC, CNN, Sky news and the London Times among other interviews.
Big names on national list
Political parties have included a mix of professionals, businessmen, artistes,
academics and sportsmen in their national lists handed over to the Commissioner
of Elections yesterday.
In a surprise move, PA's General Secretary D.M. Jayaratne has been included
in his party's national list while the UNP has included the names of four
members who crossed over from the PA.
Lakshman Kadirgamar, Ronnie de Mel, Alavi Moulana, Kingsley Wickremeratne
and Segu Issadeen are among the names in the PA list.
The UNP list includes four PA defectors — S.B. Dissanayake, G.L. Peiris,
Jayasundara Wijekoon and Ananda Moonesinghe.
The UNP has included three Muslims from the party itself and has reportedly
pledged four slots to the SLMC and two to CWC members.
While many of the former nominated UNPers have opted to contest, the
new names include Indrani Iriyagolla, Rohan Pethiyagoda and businessman
A.J.M. Muzammil.
The JVP national list includes some of their better-known politicians
such as Anura Dissanayake and Dimuthu Attygalle among several artistes
and professionals.
The Sihala Urumaya list includes professionals, academics, company directors
and environmentalists. Among them are Mithra Wettimuny, Prof. Mangala Ilangasinghe
and Dr. Ranjan Fernando.
The TULF has nominated party leader M. Sivasithambaram among five others
on its national list. |
