UNP lost in Kandy due to weak team

Hafiz Marikar, who contested from the UNP for the Kandy Municipal Council and lost the opportunity to be elected to the MC, said, the UNP suffered a heavy defeat after 58-years in the UNP stronghold mainly because the right candidates were not selected to contest.

Being one of the senior Muslim politicians in Kandy and serving the MC for the past 21-years he explains about the Local Government political process in 2011.

When elections are called, politicians and their supporters attempt to influence policy by competing directly for the votes of constituents in what are called campaigns. Supporters for a campaign can be either formally organised or loosely affiliated, and frequently utilise campaign advertising. It is common for political scientists to attempt to predict elections via Political Forecasting methods.

What may seem as a thrilling victory for the United People's Freedom Alliance in Kandy after controlling for over 58 years is a huge loss for the most powerful Kandy Municipality at Saturday's election. The focal point of the final phase of the local government election was the power struggle in Kandy. Numerous development projects and the intense campaign of the UPFA were clear evidence that President Mahinda Rajapaksa administration fought this election for power in Kandy, the Heritage City in Sri Lanka.

However, the election results have proved that the Opposition party under Ranil Wickremesinghe has lost a battle. Whilst the United National Party lacked a refined programme - its decision to engage in campaign activities putting aside internal differences has helped immensely to increase their voter base in all 23 local authorities compared to the 2010 general elections. Another important factor of the concluded election is that although the Government was keen on buying UNP strongmen - However, although the UNP managed to secure its stronghold Colombo for the 59th year its failure to win the Kandy Municipal Council which UNP held for the past six decades was a notable failure of the main opposition.

The UNP also lost Dehiwala-Mt. Lavinia. This proves that unlike in Colombo, people in Kandy have accepted the Government's massive projects to develop the city. The UNP also lost the hold of its 30-year-old power in Nuwara Eliya.

The selection of candidates was much to be desired particularly when there was a threat by the UPFA to win over the UNP currently divided in to two fractions.

The Kandy District organiser who was a sitting member was busy trying to get himself organised before being knocked out of the list, but in the last minute crept in after being pardoned by Member of Parliament Lakshman Kiriella who restored his nominations.

Then in the UNP nominations there were five candidates who were running for the Mayor's post on the posters and handbills.

This can include gerrymandering exclusion of opposition candidates from eligibility for office, and manipulating thresholds for electoral success are some of the ways the structure of an election can be changed to favour a specific faction or candidate.

The UNP organisation is continuously making blunders after blunders of this nature to bring in disrepute to the party.

Muslims were hit very badly at this election, mainly due to poor selection of candidates to contest, even the list of candidates were of a different calibre probably an attempt of political match fixing.

In the meantime, Muslim Congress came forward separately and after taking 1,230 votes they make themselves available with one seat for just one member. Muslim Congress [An associate party of the UPFA] had put out 30.

Five from Mahaiyawa, in which one Muslim had to fight for the UNP, all his votes had to be divided among five which was a plan to divide and rule by the party, a very wrong strategy that were defeated and would find it difficult to get back in the future.

It could also be considered as the worst list of candidates who obtained nominations for the LG elections 2011 and the results are the worst ever for the UNP. That is why the party lost for the first time for failing to get themselves organised in the proper manner for victory. On the contrary the UPFA was a force well organised with the right candidates and fought the elections untidily.

UNP list consisted catchers of some of the big bosses. The right person failed to come due to unfairness, in Mahaiyawa where a person who was a sitting member for 22 years failed, mainly because of poor selection, he was the only man who gave a hand to everyone and was a balanced man, who looked after everyone. What did they do they thought he will come on top.

The introduced five Muslims, all his block voters got split. The entire Kandy District is disappointed and on an evaluation made, there were several die hard Muslims who refrained from casting their vote due to the pre - planned organisation to manipulate a split in the UNP stronghold for reasons best known to the organisers.

There were two Muslim members a - Malay and a Moor, who have been long-standing. They brought in three new faces. So, all Muslim votes were split and divided to prevent and the man whom Kandy wanted failed to get in.

The man who failed to get in is a popular politician, who has helped sports, social activities and to the constituent and in general to the Kandy Municipal Council at large.

Kandy's UNP party will have to answer for the loss. People can come and go, but there should be some credibility among themselves, some people spend millions to get in, it is reliably understood that in some areas each vote had been purchased at 1500/= females were presented with Gas Cookers, there were building materials gifted. In some cases even clothes, liquor, and three wheelers were gifted in anticipation of their vote.

UNP lost because of a poor team and also due to not selecting the right candidate. The UPFA were guided and backed by their senior party leaders, devoted members in Kandy. JVP only kept talking big with no focus and failed to win a single seat. Muslim Congress who got the UNP Muslim votes with 1250, votes were able to put in one of their worst members who made a bad remark in the last council and for the first time, the entire staff began picketing against him. There were several independent groups but no one was able to get in.

Another reason could be attributed to the selection of the former Diyawadane Nilame (DN) as the Mayoral Candidate, most of the sitting members were not in favour as the DN suddenly parachuted out of the blues [the same that happens with the UNP party leadership] The Muslim congress alleged the Diyawadana Nilame was an anti Muslim.

A former Mayor who brought disrepute in many ways among the people in Kandy was also another reason for the stronghold of the UNP to decide against voting for the UNP.

The District organisers selected five Muslims, two Tamil, two Christians and 24 Sinhalese. There were many requests from Muslim members not to put more than two, but the organizers failed to adhere to their request. What happened was none of the five except a Malay Muslim was in, and no Christians, and also out of the two Tamils, one crossed over to the winning party in the eleventh hour and only one Tamil contested. They are not worried about wins, what they want is to get the 'catchers' in.