Sri Lanka’s ruling coalition has recorded a landslide victory in the local government election held Thursday, with the day marked by relatively low voter turn out but also by a lack of the violence that has marred previous elections.
The election was also notable for the large number of court cases filed in protest, as candidates and parties failed to understand the complex law on nominations.
President Mahinda Rajapakse’s United Peoples’ Freedom Alliance (UPFA) won nearly 85 percent of the local government bodies by winning majorities in 224 out of 266 where elections were held, the Government Information Department said Saturday.
The main opposition United National Party (UNP), which previously controlled almost all the local councils after the polls in 2002, won in only 32 bodies.
However, this was not surprising, as Sri Lankans favour the party in power in parliament when voting at local elections in the hope of getting more government money, reported AFP.
UNP spokesman Tissa Attanayake said that his party had fared well as the voter enthusiasm was at a low since the election was ‘not of any significance’ at the national level politics. He said the low voter turnout reflected this view and a majority of voters who had stayed away from the polling station were those who would have voted for his party in a crucial election.
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) did well, winning control of seven councils.
The Sinhala hardline Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) retained control of the council it won at the last local polls in 2002. However, while not winning control of any more bodies, the JVP won more than 50 percent more local government seats than it took in at the last vote in 2002.
Two other groups won one council each while the all Buddhist Monk party of the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) failed to win a single council. The JHU managed only to elect a single member to 10 local bodies.
Local media read the results, especially the failure of the JVP and JHU to increase their control of local bodies, to be a positive for the peace process with the Liberation Tigers, but other analysts are not so certain.
“Sri Lankan voters have shown they do not support hardline or extremist parties,” said Jayadeva Uyangoda, head of political studies at Colombo University. “This is good news for President Rajapakse.”
“No doubt this augurs well for the future and the peace process,” the state-run Daily News said in an editorial. “It is quite obvious that those political parties seen as espousing the interests of specific cultural groups have been rejected.”
The JVP and JHU are both coalition partners of President Rajapakse in parliament but each contested the local elections independently. The JVP and UPFA were increasingly at odds in the closing stages of the campaign.
The privately-owned Island newspaper said the Marxists were disappointed by the results as they had expected to control at least half a dozen councils and demonstrate their electoral strength. But the poll had exposed the vote base of the Marxists, Island said, adding that the party had been left with only a “loin cloth” after the ‘tsunami’ which delivered the UPFA.
In an editorial headlined: “Road is clear, Mr. President,” it said the JVP had “overestimated its strength and, worst of all, came to believe in its own propaganda lies. It went to the extent of boasting that it was ready to even take over the country”.
There was no immediate reaction from either the monks or the Marxists, but the president’s party invited both to cooperate with him and work towards delivering services to people at the local level.
However, other analysts said the results did not necessarily meant the government would softening it’s stance on the peace process. They pointed to the increased vote for the JVP as indicating the electorate support for the hardline stance.
Analysts also point to many who saw the UPFA victory as signifying support for Sri Lankan President Rajapakse’s hardline ‘Mahinda Chinthana’ election manifesto, and say that on this reading, there will be no softening at the talks. ‘Mahinda Chinthana’ is based on a unitary Sri Lankan state and therefore offers no room for power-sharing with the Tamils.
Newspapers also speculated that a snap parliamentary election could boost the President’s party and it may be able to go on its own without the backing of the hardline Marxists and monks who helped him win the November presidential election, but the government refused to comment on the speculation.
However, the pro-UNP Sunday Leader newspaper reports that the JVP is to work independent of the government following its poor showing at the local government elections. While the party would act independent of the government and withdraw support in parliament, no attempt would be made to topple the administration until such time the party reorganises itself and weakens the UPFA, the paper said.
A group of hardliners within the JVP is allegedly arguing that the party lost ground because some members had identified the party too much with the government despite President Rajapakse moving away from the agreement signed prior to the presidential election.
Meanwhile, a low turnout marked the polls, which independent election monitors said were largely free and fair. Two people were killed in election related violence between supporters of the UPFA and the UNP in the week prior to the polls.
The Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake told reporters that voter turnout was between 55 to 60 percent, compared with usually high polling in the Indian Ocean island country of over 75 percent. The highest turnout was recorded in Nuwara Eliya of around 75 per cent.
Polling booths were set up in about 8,829 centres to elect 3,624 members to 266 local government authorities comprising 12 municipal councils for large towns, 34 urban councils for smaller towns and 220 pradesiya sabahs for rural areas.
For another 22 councils affected by court rulings on technical deficiencies in accepting nominations, Dissanayake said those elections would take place as soon as practically possible. They will be held 35 days after he announces the date, the Elections Commissioner told the media Friday.
A total of 11,037,763 voters were eligible to elect their members from about 25,523 candidates fielded by political parties and independent groups.
The Commissioner also said though some 192 cases of polls-related violence had been reported they were not serious enough to affect the polling or the final results.
“There are no provisions in the Local Government Election Ordnance for me to have a re-poll in the event of such violence”, Dissanayake said, in any case.
The civic action group People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL), an independent election watch dog, said that there had been 49 incidents of violence, mainly assault taking place during the polling time.
PAFFREL also said election malpractices involved cases of intimidation, chasing away of voters from polling booths and snatching of polling cards. PAFFREL Chief Kingsley Rodrigo said his organisation deployed a total of 16,000 local election monitors – 14,500 were stationary while 1,500 were mobile monitors.
PAFFREL said most of the violent incidents were caused by candidates belonging to the ruling party against candidates from the UNP and JVP. However, the organisation said compared to previous years, incidents of election violence were less.
“The police and army monitors were also deployed to ease any tensions where voting was taking place,” said Rodrigo. Police Public Relations Director, SSP Rienzie Perera said around 80,000 police personnel were deployed for monitoring while the assistance of the army was also sought.
The Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) had also deployed 45 Field Monitors, 20 Mobile teams comprising 40 CMEV observers and approximately 600 Polling Center Observers covering most of the areas where the local government election was held.
CMEV monitors in some areas encountered difficulties in gaining access to polling centres in the early hours as police denied access, reported The Sunday Leader. The monitors also recorded instances where polling centres had run out of finger print cards, intended for voters without National Identity Cards.
However, the Commissioner scoffed at such reports on violence because they were proven wrong when examining the reports submitted to him by senior presiding officers and police officers in charge of those polling booths.
“On examining the reports on violence, I found it does not tally with the reports from the senior presiding officers. I don’t know how they can compile such reports without visiting these polling centres”, he said.
The killing a week prior to the polls of UPFA Minister Maithripala Sirisena’s personal secretary, M. L. Dharmasiri was termed by election monitors as a ‘non-election related incident’ claiming that the assassins have taken advantage of the election period to settle a personal grudge.
“The election period is well known for revenge attacks. To date we have not found any evidence leading to Dharmasiri’s killing being election related,” CMEV co-convener, Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu said. Officials from PAFFREL agreed with the conclusion.
Since the close of nominations on February 16, CMEV recorded a total of 274 incidents of election related violence, of which 118 were categorised as major incidents out of which 73 were incidents of assault.
These polls will also be remembered for another factor – the number of legal suits filed by political parties as well as individuals.
PAFFREL said that a total of 42 petitions were filed in court, out of which, 20 cases were still pending. “There are still some cases on nomination lists pending, and most probably they would be rejected by the courts,” PAFFREL Chief Rodrigo said.
Speaking further on the reasons for the high number of lawsuits during this year’s local government elections, he said the candidates did not understand the law properly. He said the main issues were the age range of the youth included in the list and handing in the nomination list in time.
The election was also notable for the large number of court cases filed in protest, as candidates and parties failed to understand the complex law on nominations.
President Mahinda Rajapakse’s United Peoples’ Freedom Alliance (UPFA) won nearly 85 percent of the local government bodies by winning majorities in 224 out of 266 where elections were held, the Government Information Department said Saturday.
The main opposition United National Party (UNP), which previously controlled almost all the local councils after the polls in 2002, won in only 32 bodies.
However, this was not surprising, as Sri Lankans favour the party in power in parliament when voting at local elections in the hope of getting more government money, reported AFP.
UNP spokesman Tissa Attanayake said that his party had fared well as the voter enthusiasm was at a low since the election was ‘not of any significance’ at the national level politics. He said the low voter turnout reflected this view and a majority of voters who had stayed away from the polling station were those who would have voted for his party in a crucial election.
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) did well, winning control of seven councils.
The Sinhala hardline Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) retained control of the council it won at the last local polls in 2002. However, while not winning control of any more bodies, the JVP won more than 50 percent more local government seats than it took in at the last vote in 2002.
Two other groups won one council each while the all Buddhist Monk party of the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) failed to win a single council. The JHU managed only to elect a single member to 10 local bodies.
Local media read the results, especially the failure of the JVP and JHU to increase their control of local bodies, to be a positive for the peace process with the Liberation Tigers, but other analysts are not so certain.
“Sri Lankan voters have shown they do not support hardline or extremist parties,” said Jayadeva Uyangoda, head of political studies at Colombo University. “This is good news for President Rajapakse.”
“No doubt this augurs well for the future and the peace process,” the state-run Daily News said in an editorial. “It is quite obvious that those political parties seen as espousing the interests of specific cultural groups have been rejected.”
The JVP and JHU are both coalition partners of President Rajapakse in parliament but each contested the local elections independently. The JVP and UPFA were increasingly at odds in the closing stages of the campaign.
The privately-owned Island newspaper said the Marxists were disappointed by the results as they had expected to control at least half a dozen councils and demonstrate their electoral strength. But the poll had exposed the vote base of the Marxists, Island said, adding that the party had been left with only a “loin cloth” after the ‘tsunami’ which delivered the UPFA.
In an editorial headlined: “Road is clear, Mr. President,” it said the JVP had “overestimated its strength and, worst of all, came to believe in its own propaganda lies. It went to the extent of boasting that it was ready to even take over the country”.
There was no immediate reaction from either the monks or the Marxists, but the president’s party invited both to cooperate with him and work towards delivering services to people at the local level.
However, other analysts said the results did not necessarily meant the government would softening it’s stance on the peace process. They pointed to the increased vote for the JVP as indicating the electorate support for the hardline stance.
Analysts also point to many who saw the UPFA victory as signifying support for Sri Lankan President Rajapakse’s hardline ‘Mahinda Chinthana’ election manifesto, and say that on this reading, there will be no softening at the talks. ‘Mahinda Chinthana’ is based on a unitary Sri Lankan state and therefore offers no room for power-sharing with the Tamils.
Newspapers also speculated that a snap parliamentary election could boost the President’s party and it may be able to go on its own without the backing of the hardline Marxists and monks who helped him win the November presidential election, but the government refused to comment on the speculation.
However, the pro-UNP Sunday Leader newspaper reports that the JVP is to work independent of the government following its poor showing at the local government elections. While the party would act independent of the government and withdraw support in parliament, no attempt would be made to topple the administration until such time the party reorganises itself and weakens the UPFA, the paper said.
A group of hardliners within the JVP is allegedly arguing that the party lost ground because some members had identified the party too much with the government despite President Rajapakse moving away from the agreement signed prior to the presidential election.
Meanwhile, a low turnout marked the polls, which independent election monitors said were largely free and fair. Two people were killed in election related violence between supporters of the UPFA and the UNP in the week prior to the polls.
The Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake told reporters that voter turnout was between 55 to 60 percent, compared with usually high polling in the Indian Ocean island country of over 75 percent. The highest turnout was recorded in Nuwara Eliya of around 75 per cent.
Polling booths were set up in about 8,829 centres to elect 3,624 members to 266 local government authorities comprising 12 municipal councils for large towns, 34 urban councils for smaller towns and 220 pradesiya sabahs for rural areas.
For another 22 councils affected by court rulings on technical deficiencies in accepting nominations, Dissanayake said those elections would take place as soon as practically possible. They will be held 35 days after he announces the date, the Elections Commissioner told the media Friday.
A total of 11,037,763 voters were eligible to elect their members from about 25,523 candidates fielded by political parties and independent groups.
The Commissioner also said though some 192 cases of polls-related violence had been reported they were not serious enough to affect the polling or the final results.
“There are no provisions in the Local Government Election Ordnance for me to have a re-poll in the event of such violence”, Dissanayake said, in any case.
The civic action group People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL), an independent election watch dog, said that there had been 49 incidents of violence, mainly assault taking place during the polling time.
PAFFREL also said election malpractices involved cases of intimidation, chasing away of voters from polling booths and snatching of polling cards. PAFFREL Chief Kingsley Rodrigo said his organisation deployed a total of 16,000 local election monitors – 14,500 were stationary while 1,500 were mobile monitors.
PAFFREL said most of the violent incidents were caused by candidates belonging to the ruling party against candidates from the UNP and JVP. However, the organisation said compared to previous years, incidents of election violence were less.
“The police and army monitors were also deployed to ease any tensions where voting was taking place,” said Rodrigo. Police Public Relations Director, SSP Rienzie Perera said around 80,000 police personnel were deployed for monitoring while the assistance of the army was also sought.
The Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) had also deployed 45 Field Monitors, 20 Mobile teams comprising 40 CMEV observers and approximately 600 Polling Center Observers covering most of the areas where the local government election was held.
CMEV monitors in some areas encountered difficulties in gaining access to polling centres in the early hours as police denied access, reported The Sunday Leader. The monitors also recorded instances where polling centres had run out of finger print cards, intended for voters without National Identity Cards.
However, the Commissioner scoffed at such reports on violence because they were proven wrong when examining the reports submitted to him by senior presiding officers and police officers in charge of those polling booths.
“On examining the reports on violence, I found it does not tally with the reports from the senior presiding officers. I don’t know how they can compile such reports without visiting these polling centres”, he said.
The killing a week prior to the polls of UPFA Minister Maithripala Sirisena’s personal secretary, M. L. Dharmasiri was termed by election monitors as a ‘non-election related incident’ claiming that the assassins have taken advantage of the election period to settle a personal grudge.
“The election period is well known for revenge attacks. To date we have not found any evidence leading to Dharmasiri’s killing being election related,” CMEV co-convener, Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu said. Officials from PAFFREL agreed with the conclusion.
Since the close of nominations on February 16, CMEV recorded a total of 274 incidents of election related violence, of which 118 were categorised as major incidents out of which 73 were incidents of assault.
These polls will also be remembered for another factor – the number of legal suits filed by political parties as well as individuals.
PAFFREL said that a total of 42 petitions were filed in court, out of which, 20 cases were still pending. “There are still some cases on nomination lists pending, and most probably they would be rejected by the courts,” PAFFREL Chief Rodrigo said.
Speaking further on the reasons for the high number of lawsuits during this year’s local government elections, he said the candidates did not understand the law properly. He said the main issues were the age range of the youth included in the list and handing in the nomination list in time.
