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| Sunday, 20 November 2005 |
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Politics |  |
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Class division comes to fore at polls by Jayantha Sri Nissanka Fifth Presidential election results clearly indicate the middle class and lower middle class people have had faith in electing Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse as the fifth Executive President of Sri Lanka to find solutions for their problems, political analysts told the Sunday Observer. They said that more than the urban and rural divide, a class division has been clearly indicated in President Mahinda Rajapakse's victory. Specially the middle and lower middle classes have voted for the President. They also noted that people in the South have seen that UNP candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe has been so soft on the LTTE even if they violate human rights, pluralism and democracy. Professor S. T. Hettige of the University of Colombo said that election results showed that middle and lower middle classes have overwhelmingly voted for the victory of President Rajapakse marking the urban and rural divide. He said that two thirds of the voters belonging to these two classes have been more comfortable with President Rajapakse as he is having a common touch which UNP candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe lacks. Their major problems are cost of living, transport, health, education, etc. They thought that they can obtain relief for these issues from President Rajapakse more than from Ranil Wickremesinghe, he said. When Ranil Wickremesinghe was in power, the middle class and lower middle class suffered as he was not much concerned about their problems. For example, when Wickremesinghe was in power he imposed lots of restrictions to curtail finance in Government institutions. This badly affected two classes who are more dependent on the public sector services, Professor Hettige noted. Colombo University law lecturer Rohan Edrisinha said that the LTTE prevented people in the North and East to exercise their franchise. This perhaps was part of their campaign to demonstrate an impression of separation in the country. He said that President Rajapakse's campaign clearly exploited the weaknesses of Ranil Wickremesinghe's campaign. Dr. Bertram Bastianpillai said that the result was expected as ordinary people had confidence in President Mahinda Rajapakse. |
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