Lanka Citizen

by Shamindra Ferdinando

Incumbent Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse’s creditable performances in SLFP/PA strongholds including Attanagalle, once nursed by President Chandrika Kumaratunga have silenced his critics. An influential section of the SLFP attacked Rajapakse over his hotly disputed electoral pact with the JVP accusing him of sacrificing the identity of the party (SLFP), for personal benefit, a charge vehemently denied by Rajapakse.

If anyone really believed that the Rajapakse-JVP pact was going to be rejected by the SLFP, it did not show in the final results. Rajapakse secured the Gampaha district with an overwhelming majority of 114,934 votes by polling a staggering 596,698 votes. A clandestine bid failed to discourage voters from helping Rajapakse to secure Attanagalle by a majority of 19,222 votes.

The Gampaha district leader and Prime Minister nominee Anura Bandaranaike returned from a long overseas official cum private visit in the last leg of the campaign but attended just a few meetings. Once he rapped Sripathy Sooriyaarachchi, MP, for organising a meeting in support of Rajapakse without his approval, much to the chagrin of colleagues. Both President Kumaratunga and Foreign Minister Bandaranaike refused to appear on stage with the JVP thereby placing the organisers in an awkward position. Insiders said that the presence of a cohesive party machinery in the Gampaha district would have given Rajapakse a far better lead over Wickremesinghe. UNP Deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriya who led the Gampaha district failed to impress.

As part of the efforts to throttle Rajapakse’s campaign, a transparently vindictive bid was made to deny state-run print and electronic media coverage to the incumbent PM. “It was an unprecedented bid,” an official acknowledged, referring to covert efforts to jeopardise the campaign. The forces arrayed against him were influential and almost succeeded in scuttling the campaign, political sources said referring to backstage moves to finalise a deal between an influential section in the SLFP and the UNP, of course in the unlikely event of a Wickremesinghe victory.

In an unprecedented case of co-operation, they targeted Rajapakse over what the UNP termed as the helping Hambantota scam and JVP leader Somawansa Amarasinghe’s controversial call to dissolve the army if it could not preserve the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country. An ex-servicemen’s association backing Wickremesinghe’s bid carried Bandaranaike’s remarks in TV advertisements targeting Rajapakse over Amarasinghe’s hotly disputed statement. Bandaranaike is also on record saying that he was never consulted before Rajapakse released his manifesto, Mahindachintanaya.

Rajapakse suffered another setback when former SLT chief Thilanga Sumathipala quit his campaign to take over as the chief UNP organiser for Anuradhapura. His appointment came shortly after former party General Secretary Sirisena Cooray took over the North-Central province, comprising the Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa districts. Despite aggressive campaigning by them, Rajapakse easily secured the province.

Rajapakse suffered his biggest defeat in Nuwara Eliya where Wickremesinghe secured a stunning 150,878 votes over Rajapakse who barely managed 99,550 votes. National List MP Navin Dissanayake, who led the district in the absence of colleague S. B. Dissanayake, imprisoned over a case of contempt of court is also a benefactor of the CWC’s sterling performance. If Rajapakse succeeded in securing the CWC’s support he would have been able to inflict an unprecedented loss on Wickremesinghe.

Rajapakse also survived a major attack over the mishandling of the tsunami relief work, particularly in the Hambantota district. The PM did extremely well in the southern province. He secured all four electorates, Beliatta, Mulkirigala,Tangalle and Tissamaharama in the Hambantota district with a lead of 90,206 votes. Contrary to expectations, Sajith Premadasa fared badly despite being the most active MP in the entire southern province.

Rajapakse loyalists admitted that the PM benefited from the LTTE’s unforeseen decision to boycott the poll in the northern and eastern provinces. Although a significant number of Tamils exercised their franchise in the east, the LTTE crippled the poll in the north with hardly anyone crossing entry and exit points at Muhamalai and Omanthai to cast their votes cluster polling booths.

courtesy The Island