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| Sunday, 25 September 2005 |
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In election mode: Entertainment begins Campaign Trail by Ranga Jayasuriya No more anxiety over the election day. At last, the Elections Commissioner announced the date which will fortuitously fall a day before the birthday of the SLFP Presidential hopeful Mahinda Rajapakse. When the Prime Minister marks his 60th birthday on November 18, that would be a fateful day in his life, which would decide whether he had completed his journey from a rural deep South electorate to the pinnacle of the political establishment of this country. The election campaign gathers steam and we feel its heat. Mr Rajapakse and Mr. Wickremesinghe are beaming at us from city walls, cut-outs and all kinds of election decorations. Indeed, all that is in violation of the election law. But, should the Elections Commissioner order the police to remove unauthorised election decorations, the poor cops would have sleepless nights, guarding city walls. Mr. Rajapakse and Mr Wickremesinghe dominate the political discourse. But it was one Wimal Geeganage of a little known Sri Lanka National Front, who made the first deposit for the Presidential Election. His candidature came out of the blues. In the days to come we may see many more proxy candidates, who would donate their free television and broadcast hours to one of the main candidates. Not only are the politicos busy, there are NGO wallahs getting ready for a big show. Soon, our Western donors will open their wallets, showering Dollars, Pound Sterlings and Kroners. Seasoned NGO guys know how to tap them. During the last General Election, PAFFREL had one phenomenally big grant from US Aid. With that money the government could have held another election. But, politics is such in this country, you need someone to monitor the process. We are yet to see election related violence, but history records that our elections are routinely rigged, prone to violence and abuse of public properties. That is why, when Sunanda Deshapriya - who now acts as a convenor of a group of NGOs monitoring the Election process- says that both candidates aspiring to be the first citizen of the country are violating the fundamental rules, he should not be taken as a cynic. The Prime Minister last week kicked off his election campaign, I mean, officially, as his unofficial campaign began perhaps even before being chosen as the party candidate. He has been cultivating SLFP grassroots' support long ago. First it was to secure his candidature. Indeed, the Rajapakse camp believes that it has already secured 9 electoral districts, including all those in the Southern province, Kalutara, Gampaha, Moneragala, Anuradhapura, Ratnapura and Polonnaruwa. When the Prime Minister sealed electoral deals with the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna and Jathika Hela Urumaya, he did his political arithmetic right, but, it had other implications. His agreement with the JVP, whereby he rejected a federal solution and Post-Tsunami Operational Management Structure (P-TOMS) is a deviation of the long established principles of the SLFP, which since 1994 has been advocating a federal solution. When Mr. Rajapakse kicked off his campaign under the slogan Dinawamu Sri Lanka, last week, he reiterated his commitment to a negotiated settlement. "I will create an environment for people of all ethnic communities and faiths to live in peace and harmony sans suspicion," he told a crowd waving blue and red flags. Mr Wickremesinghe too had an interesting remark last week when he addressed UNP party activists at SiriKotha. He secured a truce with the Tigers, that is indeed his most salient achievement. "There should be an immediate ceasefire in the kitchen war", he said. "Problems in our homes should be addressed before we address problems of the country," he told. It was Mr Wickremesinghe, who the other day pledged to usher in a Perakum era. This led to hilarious posters on the city walls. Perhaps, it was ironic that Mr Wickremesinghe wanted to revisit the Perakum era, because his vision, as we were previously told, was of a a Newly Industrialized Sri Lanka. Perhaps, looking for an historical icon to prop up his vision, he could have failed to find one. Sadly when industrialization was reshaping the Western hemisphere, we have lost our sovereignty to the Portuguese and the Dutch. All eyes are now on the three main minority parties, the Ceylon Workers Congress, Sri Lanka Muslim Congress and LTTE proxy Tamil National Alliance. Anyone who secure their support will have a clear edge in the election. SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem broke silence this week when he said that the SLMC would support a candidate who would not surrender Eastern Muslims to the LTTE. Some analysts described this as a warning to Mr. Wickremesinghe, who seems to be lobbying for TNA support. But, SLMC sources still say that Hakeem has a soft corner for the UNP candidate. How would Mr. Rajapakse tackle minority votes? That would be the issue his campaign managers have to address now and that would be of paramount importance to his electoral success. |
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