UNP sweeps the board
The UNP has not only secured a record victory at the local government elections,
but also has secured almost full control of some of the councils and will
not have a strong opposition.
The UNP which won 217 of the 222 councils dominated in more than 50
councils where the opposition has been reduced to either one or two members.
In 14 of the local bodies the opposition has been reduced to one member
while other parties obtained a mere one seat.
In 39 other councils the UNP still dominated by a majority stake with
the entire opposition being reduced to two or three members. In most cases
the UNP won a total of seven or eight seats in these councils.
Except at the Katana Pradeshiya Sabha where of 22 seats the PA enjoyed
a majority stake of 17 seats with the JVP and the New Left Front won two
each and an Indpendent group one, many councils were dominated by a UNP
victory. Significantly, the UNP's nominations were not accepted at this
council as they were late to hand over their papers.
Among the councils where the UNP won the majority giving one seat to
the opposition were the Wattala-Mabola UC, Gampola UC, Kadugannawa UC,
Laggala-Pallegama PS, Ambalangoda-Korale PS, Wilgamuwa PS, Hambantota UC,
Hatton-Dickoya UC, Nuwara Eliya MC, Kuliyapitiya UC, Giribawa PS, Ridimaliyadda
PS, Puttalam UC and Navagattegama PS.
In Gampola, the PA at the 1997 local government election won eight seats,
but disappointingly, last week saw a significant drop in the support for
the PA where it won only one seat giving power to the UNP.
Some significantly high ratios were seen at the Akurana PS where out
of 14 seats the UNP grabbed 12 seats leaving two for the PA. The Pathadumbara
PS showed a similarly poor performance for the PA where the seats won were
as same as in Akurana.
In Minipe, the JVP secured one seat, the PA two while the UNP led having
obtained nine seats. Lankapura in the Polonnaruwa district was similarly
taken over by the UNP which won nine seats while two seats were obtained
by the PA and the JVP also made an entry securing one seat.
The distinct margins between the two main parties were clearly etched
out in the number of seats obtained at most councils this year as against
the few instances in the 1997 polls where the gap was significant.
In 1997 the PA secured 194 councils as against the UNP which won in
43 councils. Elections were held in respect of more councils in 1997 compared
to the Wednesday's elections. Eelections to 20 councils have been delayed
as the rejection of nominations of these councils were challenged in courts
by some parties. Elections to these councils are likely to be held early
next month.
What happened in these councils
Hambantota UC
In the Hambantota Urban Council, of the nine seats, eight were won by the
UNP while the PA obtained a single seat and the JVP were incapable of gaining
any.
The UNP got 4,500 votes whereas the PA got only 398 votes and the JVP
194 votes. Hambantota is an interesting district politically speaking as
the likes of Sajith Premadasa, Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapakse and
JVP MP Nihal Galappaththi are based in this district.
Beruwala in Kalutara District
PA suffered an appalling defeat at the Beruwela Urban Council securing
no seats while the UNP obtained six seats and an independent group winning
three seats.
At the 1997 local government election, the PA won the highest number
of seats. The PA won five seats, the UNP secured three seats and an independent
group one seat.
However, votes won by the two parties were quite close in the 1997 polls
where the margin was 361.
Last weeks poll, though the voter turnout was almost the same as at
the previous local government election, the result reflected a clear bias
among voters.
Beliatta in Hambantota District
Beliatta, a PA stronghold where Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapakse has
as his base with a strong political background due to his family's role
in politics was lost to the UNP this year.
The PA which led in the 1997 poll obtaining a total of nine seats, fell
behind having obtained only five seats this year. The UNP won seven seats
while the JVP grabbed two.
Beliatta is among the few local bodies that showed a close margin between
the two major parties.
The PA won the electorate at the last Parliamentary Elections held in
December 2001.
Gampola in Kandy District
Of 12 seats in the Gampola Urban Council, the UNP clinched 11 seats leaving
just one seat for the PA. Ironically, at the previous local government
election, the PA won the majority obtaining eight seats.
The UNP obtained 10, 655 votes while the PA won 1,489 votes only this
time whereas at the 1997 poll the margin was 1,467 between the two parties
Gampola is the constituency of PA General Secretary D.M. Jayaratne.
Panwila in Kandy District
The UNP bagged away eight seats from the Panwila PS giving the PA one seat.
At the last local government poll the UNP won six seats and the PA secured
three.
The voter turn out, though very close to the 1997 poll, the number of
valid votes had increased.
Due to the bad climate of violence that was prevalent at the general
elections last year, voters turned out early to ensure that their votes
would be counted. At Wednesday's election too the same enthusiasm was seen
in the polling stations in the Kandy district.
Kekirawa in Anuradhapura Dist.
The results at this Pradeshiya Sabha was turned around giving a win to
the UNP which obtained ten seats as opposed to three seats won by the PA.
This was in contrast to the 1997 polls at which the UNP obtained five seats
and the PA nine.
The JVP for the first time won a seat at this year's poll.
The total valid votes at the general elections last year and last week's
poll showed a drop of 15,000 voters. The number of the total polled had
also dropped significantly by over 15,000.
Ambalantota in Hambantota Dist.
Among 16 seats in the Ambalantota Pradeshiya Sabha, eight were won by
the UNP while the PA and the JVP won four each, balancing power between
the parties..
At the previous local government elections the UNP won five, PA nine
and JVP two seats.
Though compared to the parliamentary elections the JVP's vote bank has
dropped. At Wednesday's polls it was clear that they had gained popularity
in certain areas and they staked their claim to seats in the local bodies.
Katana in Gampaha District
The Katana Pradeshiya Sabha was among four of the local bodies that the
PA managed to win. In contrast to the results in other local bodies, the
UNP was a missing factor having not contested this time. At the last local
government polls the UNP secured seven seats.
The PA won a clean sweep by grabbing 17 of the 22 seats, the JVP won
two, the Sihala Urumaya one and the New Left Front obtaining two seats.
Election monitors reported that Katana was among the areas that were
marred by high a level of violence.
Haputale in Badulla District
The PA won the Haputale Urban Council breaking the tie they scored at the
1997 local government polls. Accordingly ,the PA won six of the nine seats,
and the UNP three, while the JVP won none this year.
In 1997, both the PA and the UNP won three seats each.
Election monitors reported the Badulla to be among several other districts
that saw intimidation and chasing away of polling agents. At last year's
general elections the UNP won the electorate obtaining nearly 60% of the
votes while the PA received 33 %. The JVP received a marginal 4 %.
Kalpitiya in Puttalam District
The UNP took over administration at the Kalpitiya Pradeshiya Sabha having
won 11 seats defeating the PA which secured only three. The PA at the last
local government polls dominated the UNP obtaining nine seats while the
latter won only three.
The voter turn out saw a drastic drop with the total number of registered
voters being 43,866, but the total number polled being 31,455.
CC dispute: CBK plays waiting game
By Harinda Vidanage
President Chandrika Kumaratunga will name her nominee for the constitutional
council shortly, former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar told Prime
Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe this week.
The delay in nominating her appointee has delayed the operations of
the council which is empowered to appoint the independent Elections, Public
Service, Judicial Services and police commissions.
Mr. Kadirgamar had earlier told the President at a PA conference that
the delay in her part was "inexcusable". The President had complained at
the conference that her nominees had been not good enough for the Prime
Minister as they were practising lawyers.
She also said she was unable to fulfill her requirement due to her busy
schedule in campaigning for the local government elections.
Meanwhile, the spokesman for the president Harim Peiris told 'The Sunday
Times' that the President could take five to seven more 'working days'
to make the nomination.
"The President will make the appointment probably not within the next
week since there are only three working days. It will take at least upto
seven working days to make the appointment," he said.
The Prime minister, meanwhile, has called for an emergency meeting to
discuss the matter with party leaders in parliament tomorrow.
Government leaders said the list of other nominees to the Constitutional
Council had been submitted to the President on February 21 and they saw
little reason for her to delay the matter for more than a month.
Sihala Urumaya blasts PA
Sihala Urumaya leader Tilak Karunaratne analysing the results of Wednesday's
local government election has said the people are getting sick of elections.
"They do not have faith in elections. Because it is not the people's
will which is being reflected, rather it is the politicians will," he said.
Dr. Karunaratne said the percentage polled was about as low as elections
held during the height of the JVP insurrection in 1988/89.
"I blame the PA but not the UNF for this situation. They should have
come up with a campaign and a strategy to counter this," he said explaining
the role of a strong opposition.
The government was trying to claim that the results showed the people's
endorsement of their work. If the voters purpose was to endorse the votes
polled should have gone up. "The voter is disgruntled, virtually defranchised,"
he said.
There has also been a drastic drop in the JVP vote, from nine percent
to four percent, he said.
Dr. Karunaratne said he need not dwell on the Sihala Urumaya as it only
participated in 49 local bodies, three of which had not yet been held.
"We have also got more than what we got at the last elections," he added.
People were now realising that they made a mistake in not sending at
least one person to parliament to safeguard the interests of the Sinhalese,
because they understood that the Sinhala voice had been stifled, he said.
EPDP, Tamil groups surrendering weapons
Ex-Tamil militant groups, including the EPDP which is an ally of the opposition
PA, will surrender their weapons to senior military officers today, Tamil
party sources said.
They said the surrender of EPDP weapons would take place in Jaffna while
other groups would hand their weapons over to the military in Vavuniya
in keeping with the ceasefire agreement between the government and the
LTTE. Meanwhile in the eastern province, the PLOTE yesterday began dismantling
its camps.
Post-mortems on Attanagalle
The Attanagalle electorate is one that has been an SLFP surefire seat since
the 1950s. Except at the 1982 referendum this seat was never lost by the
SLFP.
However, at Wednesday's local council election, it faced a dismal defeat.
The Sunday Times correspondent reports that a poor voter turnout among
SLFP supporters resulted in this defeat. The poor voter turnout was attributed
to fear in certain cases and also to the people having lost interest in
the election process.
Veteran SLFP politician and sole surviving MP of the first parliament
S.D. Bandaranaike analysing the PA defeat in Attanagalle said, "It shows
that the peace proposals by the government submitted by the Prime Minister
Ranil Wickremesinghe have been accepted in toto by the people of this country."
He said the people had got a government of the people, by the people and
for the people.
However Attanagalle Pradeshiya Sabha's outgoing chairman Hemachandra
Pathirana said the reason for the defeat was rigging in areas such as Godagama,
Nikaweratiya, Pehadi Kanda and Walpola.
"Our polling agents were not there in some booths and even in the booths
they were present and raised issues they were assaulted," he charged.
"There was a delay in taking the ballot boxes and also a delay in starting
the counting," Mr. Pathirana claimed, adding that it was 7.45 p.m when
the counting started. Mr. Pathirana who was the chairman for two consecutive
terms in the Attanagalle Pradeshiya Sabha said this time he was at the
bottom of the list.
Medical rest recommended for Chanuka
By Shane Seneviratne
Kandy's Judicial Medical Officer has recommended two weeks of rest for
Chanuka Ratwatte, who along with his father Anuruddha Ratwatte and brother
Lohan, has been remanded in connection with the Pallethalawinna massacre
on general election day.
The medical rest has been recommended by Kandy's JMO, Dr. A. B. Seneviratne,
who was ordered by the Teldeniya magistrate to submit a report about Chanuka
Ratwatte's health condition to courts. For Lohan Ratwatte, the other son
of General Ratwatte, the JMO has recommended that he undergo a stress ECG
test.
'Endorsement of UNF policies'
Capturing some of PA's strongest political bases at last week's local government
poll, UNF spokesman G. L. Peiris said the results reflected an endorsement
of the new government's policies and expressed the depth of the distrust
on the opposition.
Prof. Peiris said the overall results reflected the will of the people
and endorsed three main themes: peace initiative, economic development
and strengthening of democracy. |
