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Sunday, 7 May 2006    
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UNP loses grip over city!

Sunday Observations: The Political Column

It's mini election time again. Polls to twenty local bodies that were postponed over disputes will be held on May 22. Much focus is laid on the Colombo Municipal Council. The UNP which controlled the CMC for over fifty years lost the grip this time.

Its nomination list was rejected by the Elections Department as an underaged youth was included. The UNP fought a long battle to have the issue redressed till last Friday. The final attempt before the Supreme Court proved futile when the Court dismissed the application even without it being heard.

The Supreme Court upheld the determination of the Court of Appeal. Mayoral candidate Sirisena Cooray present in court was a dejected man. Leaving the court house, he said, "We will come on an independent list and win the election".

Cooray's dream to become Mayor for the second time in his political career looks negative as UNP candidates vying themselves through independent lists are battling one another to choose those lists. There are three lists.

Cooray prefers the SLMC oriented list that has given twenty- one slots for UNP candidates. Former Deputy Mayor, Azath Sally aims at a second list which provides only ten slots. There is also a third list.

But, none of these lists has agreed to accommodate the full component of UNP candidates. This has caused many problems within the UNP rank and file. There is also a fear that the candidates in those lists who may obtain UNP votes may not resign in case they are elected.

Several independent candidates in these lists met on Thursday to discuss the UNP plan to use them. The majority of them were of the view that in case they win, the slot for the Mayoralty should be with them and Sirisena Cooray be offered the Deputy Mayoralty.

The outcome of these meetings reached the UNP on Thursday night and the party is at crossroads over this new development. The UNP walks on a tightrope on this issue as the independent candidates hold the right on what they should do if elected with the support of the UNP vote base.

The Supreme Court ruling on the issue on Friday pushed the UNP into a further crisis as party seniors now demand Wickremesinghe to release the two-member committee report on the alleged tampering of the nomination list.

In that report it is learnt that the names of Parliamentarians Milinda Moragoda and Mohamed Maharoof are being mentioned as their 'aides' have been found to have had a hand in tippexing the list to delete the name of T.M.Sanghadasa who was nominated by the UNP leader.

Wickremesinghe kept the report under the carpet until the court case concluded. He is due to return to the country on May 18 and will come under pressure from party seniors to make public the report.

Meanwhile, President Mahinda Rajapakse appointed former UNP mayor, Omar Kamil as Special Commissioner of the CMC to run the administration of the Council.

Kamil, an efficient Mayor of the Council who made Colombo the cleanest and the finest city in the region as Mayor has the backing of the Muslim majority in the city. His affiliation with the government will certainly give a boost to the UPFA at the forthcoming election to the Council. While the UNP is at crossroads on how to face the challenge, the UPFA candidate, Vasudeva Nanayakkara is in full swing campaigning day and night in the city.

Nanayakkara's campaign appears to gather momentum day by day with peasants and shanty dwellers who make the majority vote base in the city flocking round him. He has already made public his plans for the people and the city in case he is elected the next Mayor.

On the contrary, the UNP mayoral candidate is struggling in that regard without a symbol and a number to identify himself before the voters. The UNP voters in the city are angered over the fate that befell the party.

While the Moragoda-Maharoof combine are trying to persuade them to vote for the UNP, another faction opposed to them are silently working to request UNP voters to refrain from voting for independent candidates instilling fear that those candidates were not going to resign in the event of being elected.

The internal battles heightening within the UNP give all signs for a resounding UPFA victory in the city after fifty years. The possibility is that Vasudeva Nanayakkara, who entered politics as a Lanka Sama Samajist will become Mayor. The first LSSPer to occupy that office was a founder member of the LSSP, Dr.N.M.Perera, fifty years ago.

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