Govt confident of landslide victory at LG polls - Maithripala Sirisena

By Uditha KUMARASINGHE

SLFP General Secretary and Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena said the Government would achieve a landslide victory at the March 17 Local Government polls. The Minister told the Sunday Observer that the people are very intelligent and they are not ready to give the powers of Local Government institutions to the Opposition and hinder the development taking place in their areas.

According to the Minister, the leadership crisis within the UNP has turned into a fray during the UNP's election campaign rather than winning the election. Therefore, the election campaign has lost its verve and vigour as no effective measures can be seen on the part of the Opposition.

Q: How successful is the Government's local polls campaign?

A: It's very obvious that there is no opposition to be seen during this local government election campaign. Only the Government has engaged in the election campaign. The UPFA has engaged in a very successful election campaign to get more support of the voters towards the Government at the upcoming local polls. At present President Mahinda Rajapaksa has given a lot of strength to our election campaign by conducting district level meetings. In addition, our Ministers, organisers and provincial political leaders have given an effective contribution to conduct our campaign in a more successful manner. We would definitely achieve a landslide victory at the March 17 Local Government polls.

The Opposition conducts its election campaign only in the media. Their campaign has been confined only to television and press conferences. Except for that they have not been able to launch any successful election campaign. Even the UNP candidates tell us, there is nobody to help them or look after them. They say that the UNP has not provided them any facility required to conduct an election campaign. The leadership crisis within the UNP has turned into the major issue of the UNP at present. The UNP is not concerned about the election or the country's future. In such a situation, the very lethargic election campaign can be witnessed on the part of the Opposition. As the Government, we have engaged in an effective campaign to achieve a landslide victory.

Q: What prevented the Government from holding the polls under the new electoral system?

A: Under the new Election Act, electorates have to be demarcated for the Local Government members. It takes about one-and-a-half years to complete this task. But we cannot postpone the Local Government polls by another one-and-a-half years. If we do so, the people and the Opposition would complain. We should have a proper understanding on these practical issues regarding the implementation of this new Election Act. Therefore, the Government has to conduct the Local Government polls under the existing Election Act. At present, we are taking steps to conduct the next Local Government election under the new Election Act.

Q: What is your assessment of the level of polls violence compared to other elections? Has it gone down or increased?

A: There is a clear reduction of polls related violence compared to previous elections. This kind of violent activities took place when the UNP is in power. When the UNP was in power, our candidates and supporters had to face various harassments and threats by the UNP. As the UPFA Government is in power, the UNP candidates or supporters are not subjected to such threats or violence. Some minor incidents may be reported from certain areas. But no major incidents have been reported so far. When we compare the several elections held in the recent past, the number of violent incidents was very low.

Q: There are allegations that the Government feared losing in some areas and that's why polls have been postponed in those areas. What is your view?

A: The Government did not postpone polls in any local Government area. The elections in some local Government areas have been postponed due to some election petitions which are now being heard in Courts. Therefore the elections in some local government areas have been postponed due to the Court orders. The Government never interferes in the independency and impartiality of the Elections Commissioner or the judiciary. The Government has no right to do so. To provide facilities to cricketers and cricket fans, the Government decided to postpone the local polls in certain areas where the World Cup cricket matches are to be played in some stadiums. Once these World Cup matches are over, the polls will be conducted in these local Government areas.

In a situation where the Government has the possibility to achieve an easy victory, the Government wants to conduct local polls in all these local government areas on a single day. Except levelling various criticisms, the Opposition has no any other task to fulfil. But as a Government, we have the responsibility to sort out the country's problems and carry out the development drive. The entire responsibility of the country and its people have been entrusted upon the Government. Therefore we have no intention whatsoever of postponing the elections. We will hold the elections on time and complete them. When the attention is focused on elections, it leads to delay the functions of the ministries and the development work carried out by the Government.

Q: Do you expect a resounding victory at the Local Government polls? Will the Opposition pose a major challenge?

A: To pose a challenge to the Government, the Opposition should conduct an effective election campaign. At present there is no such election campaign launched by the Opposition. It is very clear that the Government would achieve a landslide victory in all local government institutions.

The people are very intelligent. They very well know, that the entire financial allocations to these local government institutions are made by the Government. As a result, they know the powers of these Local Government institutions should be given to the Government. Our Local Government elections history has clearly proved that always the political party in power has been able to retain power in Local Government institutions. It will happen this time as well.

Q: What is your message to voters at local polls?

A: The Government has formulated a new program for the Local Government structure. During the past four years, major development work had been carried out within all these dissolved Local Government institutions. Before President Rajapaksa took office, no Government had made such a large amount of financial allocations to Local Government institutions.

In future the Government intends to go for a new program to increase the funds allocated to the Local Government institutions in keeping with the national level programs formulated by them. So we urge the voters not to underestimate their vote by casting their vote for the Opposition.

We make a humble request to voters to cast their vote for the Government which has the ability to win the election.

That would facilitate the Government to increase the number of its members and make more allocations to the Local Government institutions. The allocations to the Local Government institutions are based on the proportion of the population in that area and the number of members elected.

When more members are elected to Local Government institutions from the Government, that would help people in that Local Government area to get more allocations to develop their area. Therefore, we call upon the voters to give powers of these local bodies to the Government to do more work in the field of rural development.

Q: Have you investigated the cause for the large number of rejections at nominations?

A: Some lawyers who were in charge of these nomination lists have not fulfilled their duty properly while the organisers of the electorates should be hold entirely responsible for the rejection of nominations in some Local Government institutions.

We appoint an organiser to an electorate to fulfil these responsibilities properly. If the organisers properly scrutinise these nomination lists, they would have rectified those shortcomings made by the lawyers.

Once the election is over, we would conduct investigations to find out the reasons for the rejection of nominations in some Local Government areas. Sometimes we may have to take disciplinary action against some organisers.

We have also sought the assistance of the judiciary to legitimise the rejected nomination lists.

Q: Have you given more preference to women and youth in the selection of candidates?

A: The Local Government Election Act has specific provisions on the youth representation. One-third of each nomination list should consist of candidates who are below 35 years.

We have also given nominations to a large number of female candidates as well. There are nearly 160 female candidates in our nomination lists. As a political party, we have fulfilled our responsibility on behalf of youth and women by giving them priority in our nomination lists.

Q: There are allegations in some quarters that members of other parties of the UPFA were treated unfairly in giving nominations. Is there any truth in this?

A: It is the SLFP which has to face most of these injustices. The nominations given to most of the other parties of the UPFA were those of the SLFP. We have accommodated more candidates of other political parties in the UPFA rather than to the proportion of the people they represent. Therefore, most of the injustices have been for the SLFP in these nomination lists.

Q: There is a belief that people are now tired of elections and that the voter turnout will be low. What is your view?

A: Normally voter turnout of Local Government Elections is low compared to other elections. Four kind of elections- Presidential election, General election, Provincial Council election and Local Government election are held in Sri Lanka. Of these four elections, the minimum percentage of voter turnout is recorded in the Local Government election.

The entire election history has proved it and that is not a new trend. But as a political party, we should attempt to create an awareness among voters to cast their votes and support the Government.

Q: Any idea when the postponed elections will be held?

A: It should be decided on by the Elections Commissioner. These elections have been postponed by the Elections Commissioner and the courts. Once these court cases are completed, the Elections Commissioner would fix the dates to conduct these elections. The Government would extend its fullest support.