Athaullah refutes Hakeem's claims:
Eastern Muslims supported President
by P. Krishnaswamy
Leader of the National Congress (NC) and Minister of Water Supply and
Drainage A.L.M. Athaullah refuted Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC)
leader Rauff Hakeem's claims that they won the overwhelming support of
the Eastern Muslims at the January 26 Presidential Poll.
The claim was totally incorrect and not based on facts, he said. The
SLMC was rejected by the majority of the Eastern Muslims and has lost
its vote base in the province, Minister Athaullah said.
An analysis of the polls results in all electoral districts of the
Eastern Province, including Ampara, Batticaloa and Trincomalee has
revealed that the SLMC did not even receive what it polled during the
2005 Presidential and the 2008 Provincial Council Elections and its vote
base among the Muslims was eroding.
The majority of the Muslims voted for President Mahinda Rajapaksa
while the majority of the Tamils voted for opposition candidate Sarath
Fonseka. In many areas the majority of Muslims voted for President
Rajapaksa while in some areas their votes were divided equally between
the two main candidates.
The NC has collected all relevant figures of the polls results to
prove it, the Minister said.
Apparently the Tamils have been carried away by the deceptive and
unrealistic election promises of the LTTE proxies, the TNA and its
leader R. Sampanthan. In an effort to deceive and mislead the public,
the SLMC is highlighting this as the votes polled by the Muslims for the
opposition candidate, Minister Athaullah said.
After the demise of the SLMC founder leader M.H.M. Ashraff, his
successor Rauff Hakeem has not been successful in any of his strategic
moves and important political decisions, including the one made at the
last Presidential Election.
He has, in fact, betrayed the Eastern Muslims by trying to create an
ethnic divide between the minority and majority communities.
The NC is gaining ground in the Eastern Province with many of the
local leaders, senior organisers and members of local government bodies
of the SLMC joining the NC, Athaullah said.
President Rajapaksa received almost two times the votes he received
in the Eastern Province at the 2005 Presidential Election mainly due to
the Muslim community's growing support to the NC in the province,
Athaullah pointed out.
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