ELECTION NEWS

In brief

Gutter press, she says

While Japan has been accused of vote buying at the recently concluded contest for the prestigious post of UNESCO Secretary General, the fate of our the Sri Lankan candidate and the newspaper reports, some of which portrayed him as a loser, have angered certain people who in turn are giving anonymous calls to newspapers and hurling abuse.

One shrewish lady giving such an anonymous call accused newspapers of biased reporting and demanded to know the particular source who provided information. When the request was politely refused and the lady asked to write to the papers instead of casting aspersions and making wild allegations, she psaid in a huff she did not wish to do any such thing.

Ill-timed

Elections make a habit of ruining many good things in life - peaceful existence, healthy relations with neighbours as well as religious and cultural festivities. And the forthcoming presidential poll is no different.

Launching her campaign in Anuradhapura last week, the President paused during her speech as a mark of respect when the call to prayer commenced at a nearby mosque. She drew applause from the crowds, specially the Muslims. And the state television, ever eager to do a bit of campaigning be it through the evening news bulletin or otherwise, flashed the incident followed by a short interview with Minister A.H.M. Fowzie extolling her virtues as a person alive to religious sensitivities.

But the poll date has boomeranged on all this, and the young turks of the UNP are planning to hit the streets- for being allegedly insensitive to their religious appeal to refrain form holding polls during the month of fasting.

Political pull

Four young children travelling regularly in a school van have been allegedly taken to some unknown destination by the driver, who has brought them home after school hours, as usual. As the children have complained about difficulties in passing urine the parents have promptly complained to the nearest police station. But there comes the local politician defending the driver- and a threat to the parents not to utter a word about the incident. A friendly peoples' representative indeed!

Give top priority to peace, says peace group

By Shelani de Silva

The Religious Alliance for Peace comprising religious leaders is scheduled to meet presidential candidates next week to seek a common pledge to solve the ethnic conflict and to request that they give peace the top priority in the campaign.

Head of the group, Ven. Kamburugamuve Vajira told The Sunday Times that the group would first meet President Chandrika Kumaratunga.

'We hope to meet all the candidates but will first meet the president. Solving the ethnic conflict should be the main aim but this too with a honest intention. For the last five years we have been waiting for peace but nothing was done. Even at this election, some one will be elected but that person should be willing and have a genuine interest in solving the problem' he said.

He said the ethnic conflict has become the main problem that the country is facing today which the politicians too should consider seriously.

'Peace is what all people want. Our group visited the Mannar last week to help the refugees. They too expressed the need for peace. They were happy that a election is going to be held but what they need is peace' he said.

Going, going not going

By Dilrukshi Handunnetti

With different crossover stories appearing in different media and politicians changing their minds from day-to-day, the man in the centre of speculation, Kandy district parliamentarian Sarath Amunugama yesterday denied crossover reports as baseless and malicious.

Dr. Amunugama said what was being misreported or misinterpreted was his effort to bridge the gap between the UNP and the PA through the setting up of a national government for which he believed there was immense support from many UNP members.

"The time is right for consensus politics, and the UNP is moving towards that as well. Our present crisis deserves a committed common approach and that's what I am working towards as a responsible citizen and a politician. But I am no desperate politician," he told The Sunday Times yesterday after a week of conflicting reports which gave contradictory signals day by day.

The latest media reports were that Dr. Amunugama was being offered the Public Administration portfolio. But the veteran civil servant and media boss who later entered politics said yesterday the misreporting was so serious that he was considering legal action.

Sparking the speculation was a gazette notification whereby the Ministry of Public Administration and the Ministry of Plantations Industries earlier held by one minister were separated.

But government sources yesterday were still saying there had been fruitful discussions with Dr. Amunugama and they believed he would accept a portfolio next week.

But Dr, Amunugama said: "I have no intention of quitting a party which accommodates diverse view points and has a healthy democratic set up within."

Dr. Amunugama in recent months is known to have been at odds with the party leadership on various issues.

Government sources said yesterday that if there had been a change of mind yesterday, it might be because the portfolio offered was not too attractive.

UNP sources said they were aware that some government frontliners were fishing in troubled political waters but they were confident that senior party members would not be tempted by the perks being offered.

UNP General Secretary Gamini Atukorale also described the Amunugama quitting story as a canard.

Cloud over uncleared areas

The Elections Department has decided to hold the Presidential Elections in the north and east but is yet to decide on holding polls in the uncleared areas, an oficial said.

He said the Department had decided to follow the method used in the 1994 elections in the north-east, but had to work out a system for the uncleared areas.

Presidential Candidate Vasudeva Nanayakara has called on the Government to hold not only presidential elections but also provincial council elections in both the cleared and uncleared areas of the north-east. He said the basic democratic right of the people there had been denied for too long and they must be restored.

The number of elegible voters in the north-east is reported to be around 500,000 and upto half of them are in uncleared areas.

The figures however have been widely disputed because voter lists had not been updated since the war began.

JVP shut out by political netball

By Shelani de Silva

The JVP has made the first election related complaint to the Commissioner of Elections after the party was refused the Sugathadasa Stadium for a special convention on Tuesday.

The JVP had officially booked the stadium for November 2 and made all the payments but on Friday the party was informed by Stadium Director A V U Silva that the place would not be available from November 1 to December 31 as it was taken over for netball training by the Sports Ministry.

Party spokesperson Wimal Weerawansa told The Sunday Times that they believed the refusal was politically motivated.

He said the party had wanted to hold its special convention on November 8 but stadium authorities had said the venue was available only on November 2 or 16 and the party opted for the earlier date.

But on Friday the party was told the stadium was not abvailable.

Mr. Weerawansa said the JVP had complained to the Commissioner of Elections that the party convention was affected because it was shut out of the main stadium in Colombo.

Mr. Weerawansa said the refusal of the stadium took away any credibility from the government's claim that it would ensure a free and fair elections. He said a new date for the convention had not been decided upon but it would probably be held to coincide with the death anniversary of the slain party leader Rohana Wijeweera.

UNP demands LTTE letters

The UNP has challenged President Kumaratunga to disclose the contents of more than forty letters that were exchanged between her and LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran if she was honest in seeking a fresh mandate to resolve the ethnic conflict.

In a statement yesterday, UNP General Secretary Gamini Atukorale said the letters had been kept a secret and she should disclose them before the November 16 nomination day for the upcoming Presidential elections.

Charging that both parties were keeping the contents a secret in a bid to bluff the nation, the UNP demanded that the main opposition party and the people be taken into confidence by disclosing the controversial letters.

The UNP said it believed the President's aim in calling election was more to stabilize her shaky government rather than to resolve the ethnic conflict.

CMU calls for protest vote

By Shelani de Silva.

The Ceylon Mercantile Union has decided to call upon all voters to write 'abolish the presidency' on their ballot papers to indicate the failure of the People's Alliance promise to abolish the executive presidency.

CMU leader Bala Tampoe told The Sunday Times that the decision was taken on Thursday at the Working Committee.

"We also denounced the failure to abolish the executive presidency, and unanimously decided to call upon the voters to write across the ballot papers and spoil the vote," he said. He added that the ruling People's Alliance misled the people by promising to abolish the presidency.

"The president knowing very well that she cannot abolish the presidency without a two thirds majority promised to do so and now says that without the UNP support the government cannot do it. What we ask is whether any legal advisor didn't tell her of the this, but it was done just to win the elections through a peoples mandate,' he said.

He added that under this constitution the presidency cannot be abolished, because the PA and the UNP hold a balance and will not support either.

"If the President wants a two thirds majority it has to be in Parliament and not in the presidency. The promise of abolishing the Presidency is just not new. She had promised that from 1994 and now she wants another mandate. The President criticises President J.R.Jayewardene for introducing this Constitution but she is enjoying every bit of what he introduced," he said.

Mr Tampoe charged the latest ruse of the President was asking the people for a fresh mandate promising to end the ethnic strife within three months.

He asked how many three months had passed and how many deadlines the President and her Deputy Defence Minister Anuruddha Ratwatte had given the people to end the war.

Lanka on forward march under PA, says President

President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga addressing her second major election rally in Bogambara, Kandy yesterday said the PA government had done more in five years than the UNP had done in the previous 17 years.

She said that when her government took office in 1994 Sri Lanka was ranked as one of the 25 poorest countries in the world, but it had now risen beyond that status.

"After an era where our children were taken and burnt on tyre pyres, we took over and created a new environment. We strengthened democracy to the maximum," she said. The President pointed out her government had provided some 80,000 jobs with some 10,000 going to graduates. Like these children on stage with me, now millions of others can think and act liberally, she said pointing to the group of little children gathered around her.

"To ensure security of this country and to safeguard the lives of its citizens, we have sacrificed our freedom. My freedom and the freedom of my children and that of my ministers, their lives have been put at risk to safeguard this country," she said.

Referring to some economic achievements, she said the national carrier which once had only nine rickety planes, was today ready to enter the new millennium having added 20 new aircraft to its modern fleet.

Responding to a participant's remarks the President said, "Yes, that gentleman said that water is a problem in lower Kandy. We are aware that there is a shortage of water and we are in the process of implementing a project to provide drinking water in Kandy," she said.

"The people of this country will tear to shreds that foolish constitution of the UNP. We are coming before you sixteen months ahead of time to ask you to vote and change that constitution," she said.

Main parties woo north and east voters

By Dilrukshi Handunnetti

With many political parties joining the fray, the two main political parties have resolved to address at least a few meetings in the war ravaged North and the East with a view to wooing the Tamil voters, political sources confirmed.

Despite more than 500,000 eligible voters residing in the North and the East, an estimated 250,000 persons would not be able to exercise their franchise as they live in uncleared areas. Some 70 % of these voters live within the Jaffna peninsula while another 30% live in the East.

Despite the negative signs of conducting an effective poll in the North and East, both main political parties are willing to launch zealous political campaigns in the cleared areas in a bid to secure minority support.

PA General Secretary D.M. Jayaratne confirmed that President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga will be addressing at least some key meetings in the North and East while many minority political parties are expected to assist the PA by campaigning separately and collectively.

"The hallmark of our President's politics is that she has always remained sensitive to grievances of people, be it the minorities, the majority or any repressed group of people like the July strikers and parents of youths who were killed during UNP-JVP terror" he said.

The Minister, sounding confident of a PA victory noted that the President was one politician who had stuck her neck out against all opposition in support of a political solution to the festering ethnic wound. Therefore the Tamil speaking people wish to meet and exchange views with her.

General Secretary of the main opposition UNP Gamini Atukorale said that the UNP leader was also expected to address some meetings in the North and the East.

Mind your tongue, says Ranil

With the announcement of the polls date by the Acting Elections Commissioner, Opposition and UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe has called an emergency meeting with his party men representing seven provinces and told them to speak in one voice.

At a series of special meetings at UNP headquarters "Sirikotha", Mr. Wickremesinghe has instructed his provincial groups including MPs and provincial councillors to speak in one voice and not to send confusing signals to the public through their public utterances, to refrain from violence and concentrate on explaining party policies on the pressing issues.

Another series of pocket meetings will continue coupled with house to house campaigns in each electorate up to the nomination date from which point the public rallies would commence.

The UNP will launch the second phase of its campaign starting November 17 with a series of election rallies- complete with high tech and mega screens in a bid to carry their message to the grass roots.

Kandy crawl

By Shane Seneviratne, our Kandy correspondent

Massive traffic jams were reported in and around Kandy yesterday as the PA staged another big show to mark its fifth anniversary, but more so as the second major presidential election rally.

Peradeniya Road and Katugastota Road were closed to traffic between 1 p.m. and 6.45 p.m, causing vehicles coming into Kandy to be stuck on the road for about six hours.

Kandy rural services head Karunaratne Galkotuwa said the government was not obviously winning votes but losing votes by inconveniencing the people so much.

Row over rice

The Government is allowing the import of some 100,000 metric tonnes of rice at reduced rates for the next two months in view of reports that there might be a shortage, but the UNP has accused it of downgrading the interest of the local farmers.

Trade Ministry officials said November and December were generally low supply months and they wanted to ensure there was no shortage or price hikes. But UNP sources said these were political motives and that the local farmer would be affected in the long term.

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