Finalising nomination lists, dialogues for alliances:

Political parties brace for PC elections

By Ranil WIJAYAPALA

The dissolution of three Provincial Councils - Sabaragamuwa, North Central and Eastern - has once again placed the country on an election footing, creating fora for politicians who wish to take over the administration of the three Provincial Councils to lay out their policies before the voters.

The Elections Department will accept nominations for the Eastern, North Central and Sabaragamuwa Provincial Councils (PC) from July 12 to July 19 noon at centres located in the District Secretariats. Deposits will be accepted until 12 noon on July 18, the day prior to the last date of acceptance of nominations.

According to the Elections Department, the election will be held to elect 35 Members (11 for the Batticaloa district, 14 for Ampara district and 10 for Trincomalee district) for the Eastern PC, 31 Members (21 for Anuradhapura district and 10 for Polonnaruwa district) and 42 Members (24 for Ratnapura district and 18 for Kegalle district).

Voters numbering 1,033,759 in the Eastern province (347,099 in the Batticaloa district, 441,287 in Ampara and 245,363 in Trincomalee), 900,872 voters in the North Central Province (606,507 in the Anuradhapura district and 294,365 in Polonnaruwa) and 1,401,794 voters in the Sabaragamuwa Province (769,813 in the Ratnapura district and 631,981 in Kegalle) are eligible to cast their votes at the PC elections.

Broader alliances

The exact date of the election will be announced after the acceptance of nomination papers on July 19. The major and minor political parties vying for the elections are already busy finalising their nomination lists while continuing dialogues with other political parties to form broader alliances to face the elections. Most political parties came out with their policy decisions with regard to the finalising of their nomination lists.

One major decision taken by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the key political party in the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA), was announced last week by its General Secretary and Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena. According to Minister Sirisena, the SLFP Central Committee has decided not to give nominations to spouses and family members of Ministers and Parliamentarians at the forthcoming Provincial Council elections. The decision, according to the Minister, has been taken to give opportunities to the young generation who are committed to the party. According to Minister Sirisena, the SLFP will be strict on the policy of giving nominations to spouses and family members of Ministers and Parliamentarians.

The SLFP has appointed three committees headed by Ministers Nimal Siripala de Silva, Anura Priyadarshana Yapa and W.D.J. Seneviratne to select prospective candidates for the elections. Accordingly, Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva heads the selection board for the Eastern Provincial Council, Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa heads the selection board for the Sabaragamuwa PC, while Minister W.D.J. Seneviratne heads the selection board for the North Central PC. The nomination boards were expected to meet on Friday to select the prospective candidates.

However, the party has not yet decided on the Chief Ministerial candidates of the three Provincial Councils. Therefore, it is still not clear whether the former Chief Ministers, Mahipala Herath of the Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council, Berty Premalal Dissanayake of the North Central Provincial Council and Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan of the Eastern Provincial Council will be able to retain their Chief Ministerial portfolios even if they win the elections. However, the nominations of the ruling UPFA will be decided before July 10, after concluding the negotiations with the constituent parties of the UPFA.

Nomination committee

Meanwhile, the main Opposition United National Party (UNP) also has appointed a nomination committee for the forthcoming PC elections. The 12-member committee is headed by party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and includes Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa, General Secretary Tissa Attanayake, National Organiser Daya Gamage, Parliamentarians Gamini Jayawickrama Perera, Joseph Michael Perera, Shanthini Kongahage, Ravi Karunanayake, Kabir Hashim, Mangala Samaraweera and Ruwan Wijewardene.

However, the party is expected to take the final decision regarding the Chief Ministerial candidates at the Working Committee meeting scheduled for July 19. However, many names have come up as the Chief Ministerial candidates of the UNP.

The emergence of the names Thalatha Athukorala and Chandrani Bandara Jayasinghe as the Chief Ministerial candidates for the Sabaragamuwa and North Central Provincial Councils have received wide publicity in the media while the name of former Opposition Leader of the Eastern Provincial Council and National Organiser Daya Gamage has been suggested as the Chief Ministerial candidate for the Eastern Province.

The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) has decided to go solo at the forthcoming elections without forging alliances with other political parties. Its General Secretary Tilvin Silva has said that it will not, under any circumstances, join the Opposition to contest the election. Taking a different stance over the Chief Ministerial candidates, the JVP on Friday announced heads of the nomination lists for each Provincial Council.

The party announced former MP Vasantha Samarasinghe as the Chief Ministerial candidate for the North Central Provincial Council, former Parliamentarian Gamini Ratnayake as the Chief Ministerial candidate for the Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council and former Parliamentarian Vasantha Piyatissa as the Chief Ministerial candidate for the Eastern Provincial Council.

The party said the nomination lists were prepared by a committee comprising JVP Politburo Members Vijitha Herath, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, K.D. Lal Kantha and Central Committee Member Ramalingam Chandrasekaran.

Important election

Though the elections for the three Provincial Councils are to be held on a staggered basis, the elections for the Eastern Provincial Council will take an important place both locally and internationally. Firstly, the political complexity in the Eastern Province make the elections crucial for major and minor parties as all three communities are almost equally represented in the Province. Although elections for the Eastern Provincial Council are to be held for the second time after the de-merger of the North East Provincial Council, this will be the first occasion the people in the Eastern Province are voting at a PC election under peaceful conditions; an election was held in May 10, 2008 almost one year after the liberation of the Eastern Province from the clutches of terrorism. At this election, the ruling UPFA contesting in collaboration with a number of other political parties secured victory, winning 20 seats, while the opposition UNP won 15 seats. The JVP and the Tamizh Democratic National Alliance (TDNA) won a seat each. Though the Tamil National Alliance did not contest the 2008 election for the Eastern PC in protest of the de-merger of the Northern and Eastern Provinces, it will contest the elections this time, posing a challenge for the other parties.

The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, led by Minister Rauff Hakeem, is also reportedly entering an agreement with the UPFA to contest the elections in the Eastern Province.

Meanwhile, the former Chief Minister of the Eastern Province and leader of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal, Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan has also expressed the party’s willingness to contest the election under the UPFA. Other Tamil political parties such as PLOTE and EPRLF have also pledged their support to the UPFA at the Eastern PC elections.

If public sentiments after the liberation of the Eastern Province from the clutches of the LTTE were tested at the 2008 Eastern PC elections, the development drive in the Province would surely be the testing ground for the ruling UPFA at this election.

The vibrant democracy that can be exercised in the East will be reflected at the forthcoming Eastern PC election as people there have been given enough time to enjoy their political freedom since the liberation of the country from the clutches of terrorism.