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UPFA set to form minority govt.

It's a "stand-off", says PM
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said last night that both he and President Chandrika Kumaratunga had asked for a strong government to lead the country and neither of them had obtained such a mandate.

He told The Sunday Times the verdict of the people was a "stand-off" situation and that President Kumaratunga could not hope to administer a "stable government" without a majority in parliament. He attributed the poll results to a 'protest vote' and said that the votes the new entrants, the monks, received were against both major parties.

UNF-CWC-TNA-SLMC coalition talks for control of hung Parliament
The United People's Freedom Alliance secured the most number of seats at Friday's Parliamentary General Elections but the formation of a new government hangs in the balance.

Soon after receiving official reports that the Alliance had been the single coalition to win most seats, President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, wanted to name a Prime Minister and swear in a new Cabinet. This is despite the UPFA not having an overall majority (113 seats) in Parliament forcing it to function as a minority Government.

However, the move was stymied by a ruling from Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake, suspending the announcement of official results from 6 p.m. yesterday. He announced at a news conference he was considering reports of polls malpractice in two electorates, Nawalapitiya and Kalmunai. Elections officials and polls monitoring groups had sent reports of irregularities.

Mr. Dissanayake is to meet representatives of recognized political parties this morning to apprise them of his decision whether to order repolling. He is to tell them that final results of Friday's elections will be formally announced only after arriving at a decision to repoll.

Presidential Spokesman Harim Peiris, however, told The Sunday Times yesterday, "We will go ahead to form a government no sooner the official results are made known. This is even if we do not have the required majority."

Unofficial results placed the UPFA tally at between 104 and 108 seats as against 83 to 87 seats for the UNF. The Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (TNA) had won 22 seats and the Jathika Hela Urumaya seven or eight seats.

But the delay in the official announcement of the final results did not deter both the UFPA and UNF leadership from engaging in behind-the-scene manoeuvres to garner support from smaller parties for the formation of a government.

The UNF is making overtures to the LTTE-backed Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi for its support to form a government. However, Mavai Senathirajah, General Secretary of the ITAK, told The Sunday Times, "We cannot decide on this request. We have to consult the LTTE."

A spokesman for the Prime Minister told The Sunday Times it was unlikely the TNA would support any government, but confirmed that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe would hold talks today to explore possibilities of whether the UNF itself could muster the required number of 113 seats in Parliament with the support of the TNA and the SLMC.

A UNF-CWC-TNA-SLMC coalition of parties is also expected to fall short of the absolute majority by a few seats as the widely expected hung-Parliament scenario from this election came to pass.

On the other hand, the UPFA, The Sunday Times learns, has made overtures to the Jathika Hela Urumaya. The party of monks is said to have earlier considered asking both the UPFA and the UNF to support their newly-elected MPs to be appointed to the posts of Speaker, Deputy Speaker and Deputy Chairman of Committees but had later dropped this request. The monks had declined to support any coalition

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