The Political Column

14th February 1999

UNP to apologise for past election malpractices

By our Political Correspondent

The controversy-ridden Wayamba Provin-cial Council election still looms large with the main opposition, UNP on Tuesday calling for a new movement to safeguard democracy.

UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe spelt out the plan and through it he has re-emerged in the political arena with greater responsibility thrust upon him - all because of the folly of the People's Alliance, which made the Wayamba election a mockery.

The PA is apparently trying to find a scapegoat now while President Kumaratunga seems to be trying to wash her hands off and disassociate herself from violence and corrupt practices in the Wayamba elections.

She said earlier she would take stern action against the miscreants irrespective of their status or seniority. But Opposition leaders are sceptical whether her words would be translated into action.

On Tuesday UNP MP Gamini Lokuge accused the government from President Kumaratunga downwards of being responsible for violence and election malpractices in Wayamba. He said PA members could not be categorized as good or bad but as a government all were responsible for what happened in Wayamba.

Whatever happened it was for the benefit of the UNP and its leader Ranil Wickremesinghe is now obviously trying to exploit the situation to re-emerge as the saviour of democracy. He made his call for the movement to save democracy, at the joint working committee and parliamentary group sessions held last week.

Several UNP parliamentarians backed this call but media expert Sarath Amunugama expressed a different view. He said the UNP's focus should be on the up-coming provincial elections rather than on building up another movement.

He said the party should not get its priorities mixed up, pointing out that this was not the time to embark upon another movement and go for elections simultaneously, within 45 days.

General Secretary Gamini Athukorale and parliamentarian R. A. D. Sirisena who also spoke on the same subject endorsed Mr. Wickremesinghe's call.

The government leaders, studying the UNP's reactions closely have already raised questions about the moral position of the proposed new movement, asking how those who once tried to kill democracy can safeguard it. They point out that Mr. Wickremesinghe's name had figured in many instances where the UNP had stifled democratic freedoms. One government minister mentioned the Mahara by- elections, the Jaffna DDC elections, the Ratnapura by-elections and the Presidential pardon given to notorious criminal Gonawala Sunil and the killing of lawyer Wijayadasa Liyanarachchi.

These incidents will in the coming days get wide publicity in the state-owned newspapers and the electronic media, asking whether the UNP has any right to lead a movement for democracy.

But with the Wayamba quagmire sticking out like a sore thumb, it would be difficult for the government to get much political mileage from the incidents that took place during the UNP regime.

At Tuesday's meeting the UNP also discussed the proposals by the PA Mulberry group to ensure peaceful elections. Most UNP members felt that the effort of the Mulberry group had turned out to be a total failure or farce.

Some members felt Mulberry group leader Dallas Alahapperuma who initially proposed an all-party effort by backbenchers to prevent violence had led them along the garden path. "We don't have time for such people and we cannot waste our time with them", General Secretary Athukorale said.

R. M. Ratnayake who had worked along with the Mulberry group to create a better understanding between the PA and the UNP came under heavy fire by the members. He was advised not to waste time on such matters. At this point Mr.Ratnayake said he saw the very people who called for peaceful elections leading mobs during the Wayamba poll.

Reginald Perera said since the UNP had built up a good rapport with Buddhist and Catholic clergy, the party should exercise more care in whatever it did during the upcoming campaign.

Theareafter Mr. Wickremesinghe spoke and explained that the new movement for democracy was necessary to mobilise people to ensure democratic elections. One MP charged that the President was capable of doing anything to anybody in her party considering what she did to her own brother Anura Bandaranaike. But Mr. Bandaranaike, who was present at the meeting said nothing and remained aloof just as he had done in the Wayamba campaign. Mr. Bandaranaike was away during the campaign, seeking medical advice and attention abroad.

At the UNP Working Committee meeting it was decided that the party should get ready for a general election, which the UNP feels could be called in June. Members emphasized the need to continue the campaign against election malpractices, by maintaining public awareness locally and internationally.

A massive petition will be prepared by the UNP after launching a house-to-house campaign on what it sees as the Wayamba fraud.

The party leader, however, admitted the UNP too had been in the wrong in the past and therefore some civic organisations are today finding it difficult to join hands with the UNP in this campaign.

He admitted the 1981 District Development Councils elections in Jaffna and the 1982 Referendum were among such flaws. W.J.M. Lokubandara, however, said that the then opposition had also contested the Referendum and therefore it was not a blatant violation of the rights of the people.

Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena disagreed, saying the UNP should take responsibility for the misdeeds at the DDC elections in Jaffna and for the flawed Referendum. Thereafter, Mr. Wickremesinghe said it was necessary to have a proper analysis of those events. He said self-criticism would help them to rectify the mistakes of the past. "It is not right to find a scapegoat. It is the UNP which is responsible. Since I am the leader of the party, we should take responsibility without passing the buck to any other leader," he said. Mr. Wickremesinghe also said the party should express some regret to the Tamil people for the manner in which the Jaffna DDC elections were held and to the people of Sri Lanka for the flawed Referendum in 1982.

With this kind of approach, the UNP is now preparing to project itself as a new party under a new leader who would guide the country to the next millennium. A test of strength will come in the April 1st elections, that is if we don't see another Wayamba.

The Wayamba rumpus has also undermined the government's political programme for the year. Its idea was to win the Wayamba elections and thereafter hold elections for the dissolved North-Eastern Council.

Minister G.L. Peiris was perhaps the most embarrassed person in the Cabinet when he had to explain matters not only to the US visiting Assistant Secretary of State Karl Inderfurth but also to other foreign diplomats. At an exhibition organized to celebrate the 51st Independence of Sri Lanka, Britain's High Commissioner, the US Ambassador and the French Ambassador expressed concern on the Wayamba elections to Prof. Peiris.

They told the minister that though they were willing to help the PA government for a definite economic and political programme, they now have to think twice before doing so, if elections were held in that fashion.

The big question being asked is how the government would devolve power to the provinces, especially to the North-East if it was acting in the way it did in Wayamba - giving with one hand and taking with the other. Now it seems, the PA is more interested in winning the other five provinces than in repairing its image or taking steps to solve the ethnic conflict.

While the Wayamba trouble continues, many parties are also seriously looking at remedial measures.

The UNP has proposed an Independent Election Commission with wide powers, though the government is not keen on it.

What is more disturbing is the statement reportedly made by PA General Secretary D.M. Jayaratne that it is difficult to hold an election free of violence and intimidation.

In other words, is Mr. Jayaratne expecting all these to take place in some form though not with the same intensity or magnitude as in Wayamba?

At the Cabinet meeting two weeks ago, the President called for an annulment of the elections, perhaps thinking that most of the ministers, including Minister Anuruddha Ratwatte, would oppose such a move on the pretext of protecting the SLFP. But Minister Ratwatte was cautious not to play into the hands of the President. When the President called for an annulment of the elections, he promptly agreed and the others followed suit. But the President is not in a position, as Minister Bertie Premalal Dissanayake said, to annul the elections. It has to come through the Provincial Council itself and Chief Minister S.B. Nawinna is quite emphatic that the council should carry on.

However at the end of the day the Wayamba elections had caused irreparable damage to the whole election process of the country, eventually creating a wide gap between the ruling party and the opposition. UNP General Secretary Gamini Atukorale soon after the Wayamba elections called upon all UNP members of Parliament to refrain from dealing with PA Ministers and Parliamentarians, but the majority of the UNP MPs are opposed to this move saying that the UNP is a liberal democratic party. Some others asked as to whether only Mr. Atukorale could deal with the ministers such as Ratnasiri Wickremanayake who is closely related to him. At present there is dissension in the UNP not only on this matter, but also on the decision to boycott the newly elected Wayamba Council.

It is learnt that a number of members who were elected are agitating against this decision after considering the cost factor involved.

Beside these, the talk among the Tamil political circles is that the government is now trying to bifurcate some parts of the Eastern Province from the merged North and East. It is also revealed that former Chief Minister Vartharajah Perumal who secretly flew back recently is to contest as the chief ministerial candidate for the Eastern Provincial Council under a PA-EPRLF alliance.

If Mr. Perumal finds it difficult to contest as an EPRLF candidate, it is said that he would form his own party. But at the moment Mr. Perumal has again left the country and nobody is quite sure whether he would return to take up the challenge. The story relating to the Eastern Provincial Council was first related by All Ceylon Tamil Congress Leader Kumar Ponnambalam.

He told friends about the latest information he received from a government source. Tamil circles are buzzing with the latest developments, but it would be difficult to determine whether the government would go for the Eastern Provincial Council elections in May with most of the areas in the East infested with the LTTE. However this situation also gives the PA an edge over the other parties in the Eastern Province since unscrupulous elements could stuff boxes as it happened in the past in the Northern and Eastern parts of the country.

As far as the other five provinces are concerned, political analysts believe that the North Central Province might go to the PA while the Uva and Central Provinces could be won by the UNP since most of the estate workers are known to be fed up with the CWC and the PA. One of the major problems in the estates sector now is that the workers in some 47 state-owned tea estates have been evicted after the private sector took over management.

The CWC and the government had not been able to find a solution to this. In the Western Province, the scales are believed to be even, analysts say.

It is believed that some government ministers are trying to enter these Councils as Chief Ministers after the elections. Though the nomination lists do not contain the names of these ministers, they could be appointed under the bonus seats scheme.

This has caused ripples among the PA candidates contesting these elections. Already Deputy Minister Athauda Seneviratne had resigned from the LSSP maybe with the intention of contesting for the chief minister's post in Sabaragamuwa.

In another election related development, Chief Government Whip Richard Pathirana warned MPs and Ministers against issuing statements to the media on the conduct of the Wayamba polls making a hard-hitting speech at the government group meeting, and he called for commitment to the principles of collective responsibility. Mr. Pathirana said some media groups were creating mountains out of molehills and this was made worse by irresponsible statements from some MPs. The minister charged that some MPs were indulging in an image building exercise rather than protecting the government thus causing embarrassment to the party. He warned the members to refrain from making such statements. Insiders believe the chief whip was directing his criticism at ministers M.H.M. Ashraff and Jeyaraj Fernandopulle, both of whom called for the annulment of elections. When Mr. Pathirana made these remarks another MP said some members were trying to be heroes through newspapers. Mr. Pathirana said if any member wanted to make a statement against the government, he should first resign. Though several members criticised Ministers and MPs who issued statements to the press, no names were mentioned.

At the group meeting, the police also came under heavy fire by Parliamentarians who said that most of them are in truck with the UNP and ignored complaints made by the PA.

During the proceedings Dr. Iliyas, Jaffna District MP of the SLMC, too came under criticism by Mr. Pathirana. He said he would not allow the SLMC to talk against the government and the Wayamba elections using the government time at the emergency debate on Thursday. He warned the member that he would take him to task in the well of the House if he resorted to such action. Minister Pathirana also told Dr. Iliyas to convey his message to his leader. Dr. Iliyas is now complaining that he was threatened by the minister and that he would take the matter up with the President through the leader of the SLMC. Minister Pathirana had apparently lost his cool on the reports published in the media on the conduct of the PA at the Wayamba elections.

Amid this outburst, there was speculation, Mr. Pathirana would step down as the Chief Government Whip due to ill-health.

The criticism by Minister Pathirana of the SLMC is likely to take a new turn when the PA Executive Committee meets this week. Most of the constituent parties which expressed concern over the Wayamba elections are likely to come out openly. Jayasena Rajakaruna, a long-standing MP and a close associate of the Bandaranaikes, who represented the Panduwasnuwara area in the Kurunegala District, has also joined the chorus of protests, describing the Wayamba election as a fraud on the people.

Mr. Rajakaruna, a PA Member of Parliament, has sent in his resignation from the post of chief organiser for Panduwasnuwara. However, he is likely to continue as an MP until the end of the term of the Parliament.

With criticism emanating from their own rank and file, the PA is on a bad wicket over Wayamba. The only solution appears to be is to persuade the Chief Minister to dissolve the Council through a resolution without waiting for an adverse court ruling which would further damage the PA's image.

As the political situation is becoming volatile day by day the UNP on Thursday put up a white flag at half mast at the parliamentary complex and tolled bells to mourn what it calls the demise of democracy. The cloth for the white flag was provided by a former State Minister and Parliamentarian H.G.P. Nelson, from material he was taking home for his mother.

In another development, the government has decided to appoint Judicial Services Commission Secretary Dhammika Kitulegoda as the Secretary General of Parliament to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Bertram Thittawella.

Traditions hold that the post should go to the Deputy Secretary General and this has been followed from the days of Ralph Deraniyagala who was the first Clerk to the House of Representatives. But for some reason, present Deputy Secretary General Priyani Wijesekera, is to be overlooked.

A joint opposition delegation led by Ranil Wickremesinghe, Joseph Pararajasingham and Nihal Galappathi met Speaker K.B. Ratnayake to protest against this.

They said they would not co-operate with the new Secretary General unless the government followed the convention.

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