Splits are appearing in the ranks of the allied parties that only last November brought Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse to power, reports said this week. The Marxist-cum Sinhala nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) are facing a crisis over the terms of an alliance to face the forthcoming local government elections.
The JVP has asked for the control of one third of local government bodies and fifty percent of seats for their members, the reports said. The powerful right wing party has also demanded that the list of the 17 local government bodies (or Pradeshiya Sabhas) to be contested under the ''bell'' symbol of the reds be announced before the polls.
General Secretary of the UPFA, Minister Susil Premjayanth, told The Island newspaper that the JVP had made the request last Friday. Mr Premjayanth had told the Marxists he had to consult the party’s district leadership and the General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the main member of the UPFA coalition, before a decision could be announced.
Although it campaigned in the Presidential election on his behalf, the JVP has stayed out of the UPFA government which is led by Rajapakse’s SLFP.
The JVP, a former militant movement which led two abortive and extremely bloody insurrections against the Sri Lankan state, has subsequent to its violent crushing, registered as a political party and inexorably grown to be the third largest political party. Some analysts feel it is now threatening to undermine and pass the SLFP – one of Sri Lanka’s traditional two main parties.
“The JVP is in a quandary over the upcoming Local Government elections as it is faced with a hard choice between entering the fray separately and making the UPFA grant its unwieldy demand,” The Island opinioned.
The paper quoted said the JVP was wary of “contesting the polls separately as it fears that a possible defeat will expose its real strength and negate the impressive victory it scored at the last general election where it secured 39 seats.”
At the last Local Government elections, the JVP won only a single Pradeshiya Sabha.
However, another report in The Island also quoted sources as saying the JVP membership and the grassroots party organization have been preparing to contest the local polls independently.
The JVP Central Committee has decided to field their candidates independently at the April Local Government polls and the party''s decision would be officially intimated to the SLFP in the next few days, The Island reported.
Other Sri Lankan papers also echo this view, suggesting that the call for an equal number of seats is part of the JVP plan to marginalise the SLFP, and that the objective can be achieved regardless of whether the parties compete together or not.
The Sunday Leader newspaper, which is sympathetic main parliamentary opposition United National Party (UNP), claimed that a three way contest between the SLFP, JVP and will only benefit the UNP, giving it either a majority, or at least the most seats. This would leave the JVP with a controlling stake, either as party of a coalition with the SLFP, or as the third force.
“But the end result as far as the JVP was concerned was the same - the marginalisation of the SLFP,” the Sunday Leader opinioned.
Meanwhile, the Sunday Leader reported that SLFP leader and former President, Mrs Chandrika Kumaratunga, recently attended a party meeting where she allegedly said she will “never allow the SLFP to be destroyed as long as she was Leader and that they should have confidence in the party without succumbing to those who are trying to win their demands through pressure tactics”.
"If they want to contest in alliance, let them come like the other parties and negotiate but not at the expense of destroying the SLFP," the paper quoted Mrs Kumaratunga as saying, though she did not identify the JVP by name.
The JVP has asked for the control of one third of local government bodies and fifty percent of seats for their members, the reports said. The powerful right wing party has also demanded that the list of the 17 local government bodies (or Pradeshiya Sabhas) to be contested under the ''bell'' symbol of the reds be announced before the polls.
General Secretary of the UPFA, Minister Susil Premjayanth, told The Island newspaper that the JVP had made the request last Friday. Mr Premjayanth had told the Marxists he had to consult the party’s district leadership and the General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the main member of the UPFA coalition, before a decision could be announced.
Although it campaigned in the Presidential election on his behalf, the JVP has stayed out of the UPFA government which is led by Rajapakse’s SLFP.
The JVP, a former militant movement which led two abortive and extremely bloody insurrections against the Sri Lankan state, has subsequent to its violent crushing, registered as a political party and inexorably grown to be the third largest political party. Some analysts feel it is now threatening to undermine and pass the SLFP – one of Sri Lanka’s traditional two main parties.
“The JVP is in a quandary over the upcoming Local Government elections as it is faced with a hard choice between entering the fray separately and making the UPFA grant its unwieldy demand,” The Island opinioned.
The paper quoted said the JVP was wary of “contesting the polls separately as it fears that a possible defeat will expose its real strength and negate the impressive victory it scored at the last general election where it secured 39 seats.”
At the last Local Government elections, the JVP won only a single Pradeshiya Sabha.
However, another report in The Island also quoted sources as saying the JVP membership and the grassroots party organization have been preparing to contest the local polls independently.
The JVP Central Committee has decided to field their candidates independently at the April Local Government polls and the party''s decision would be officially intimated to the SLFP in the next few days, The Island reported.
Other Sri Lankan papers also echo this view, suggesting that the call for an equal number of seats is part of the JVP plan to marginalise the SLFP, and that the objective can be achieved regardless of whether the parties compete together or not.
The Sunday Leader newspaper, which is sympathetic main parliamentary opposition United National Party (UNP), claimed that a three way contest between the SLFP, JVP and will only benefit the UNP, giving it either a majority, or at least the most seats. This would leave the JVP with a controlling stake, either as party of a coalition with the SLFP, or as the third force.
“But the end result as far as the JVP was concerned was the same - the marginalisation of the SLFP,” the Sunday Leader opinioned.
Meanwhile, the Sunday Leader reported that SLFP leader and former President, Mrs Chandrika Kumaratunga, recently attended a party meeting where she allegedly said she will “never allow the SLFP to be destroyed as long as she was Leader and that they should have confidence in the party without succumbing to those who are trying to win their demands through pressure tactics”.
"If they want to contest in alliance, let them come like the other parties and negotiate but not at the expense of destroying the SLFP," the paper quoted Mrs Kumaratunga as saying, though she did not identify the JVP by name.
