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| Sunday, 12 February 2006 |
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Politics |  |
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Forging alliances to face polls by Jayantha Sri Nissanka and Thava Sajitharan The formation of coalitions for the forthcoming Local Government election is yet to materialise. Two major political parties, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the United National Party (UNP) are now engaged in intense negotiations with smaller parties in a bid to form alliances. However, political sources said prominent smaller parties were contemplating to go it alone to test their strength at grassroots levels at the mini election. The Ceylon Workers Congress and the Upcountry Peoples' front are likely to merge but they are yet to decide on forming a broader alliance with either of the two major political parties. JVP Parliamentarian and former UPFA Minister Vijitha Herat when contacted by the Sunday Observer said" We do not rule out the possibility of facing this election as a single party. We will hand over nominations on February 15 and 16th". He said the JVP candidates would contest selected Councils in the North and East and all the Councils in other parts of the country. About 3000 new JVP faces will contest this election, he pointed out. The SLFP also said they were in the process of putting the final touches to the nomination list. The Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) and the Upcountry People's Front (UPF) have decided to function as one unit at the upcoming local polls. Vice President of the CWC R. Yogarajan told the Sunday Observer that both parties were yet to arrive at a final decision on forming a broader alliance with any of the national parties. Whatever the outcome would be the CWC and the UPF will function as one unit' Yogarajan said. UPF leader P. Chadrasekaran too asserted that they would contest the election in alliance with the CWC. Chandrasekaran added that their aim was to secure greater political representation for the upcountry Tamil community. Meanwhile, the Tamil National Alliance, which had earlier requested the Elections Commissioner to postpone the local polls in the North-East, disclosed that it would contest the polls as the request was turned down. Speaking to the Sunday Observer, TNA parliamentarian Mavai Senathiraja said they had decided to nominate candidates to contest in the North-East councils. The All Ceylon Muslim Congress (ACMC) was to contest the polls in the North- East aligning with the National Congress and National United Front, according to Y. L. S. Hameed, Secretary General of ACMC. 'Outside North-East, we will contest with the United People Freedom Alliance, Hameed added. Sri Lanka Muslim Congress is likely to join hands with the UNP. SLMC National Organiser K. Baiz told the Sunday Observer that they were negotiating with the UNP and a final decision would be taken this evening. When contacted, UNP Deputy Secretary General Tissa Attanayake said that
80 percent of their nomination lists have been finalised and the rest would
be completed shortly. When asked about negotiations with SLMC, CWC and UPF,
Attanayake noted that discussions were fruitful a finality would be reached
today. |
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