The Jathika Hela Urumaya, [JHU] a non-minority group who fielded Buddhist Monks came up with some trumps assuming the king-maker’s role. They won 9 seats and the UPFA was short of eight, while the JVP in alliance with SLFP securing 41 were the highlights of April 2, 2004 Parliamentary Election.
The life expectancy of the new government as well as the constraints under which it would have to operate in fulfilling its mandate was doubted by outgoing PM Ranil Wickremesinghe. Former Prime Minister claimed that no party has an absolute majority in parliament to form a stable government. Wickremesinghe said the government, expected to take over shortly, would be a minority one which would be unable to carry out business in parliament. Another poll could not be ruled out, although the UNF would strive to preclude it. “We have reached a state of affairs similar to the March 1960 elections where no party gained a majority. The party which got highest had not lasted long” he said. According to him UNF’s defeat was not due to the rejection of the peace process, but due to other issues.
The UNF formed in December 2001 obtained an absolute majority with 114 seats with a mandate to function for six years. “We were on target and had come to a decisive stage when the President suddenly dissolved parliament and called for a general election. [Constitution prior to 19A allowed dissolution in 12 months] Now the result shows that no party has an absolute majority to tackle these issues. This itself poses problems. It is a question mark as to how long such a government could continue,” he said.
It was not possible to count the exact number who voted for the UPFA because they liked the JVP, this party made incredible gains on April 2, 2004. They increased their numbers to 41, a gain of 25 over the 2001 result. Their candidates, most of the districts, came on top in preferential votes polled. This would mean that they make up close to half the support enjoyed by the UPFA. If the JVP listed 60 candidates they would have won about fifty seat in parliament; the JVP as it promised stayed corruption-free but not productive, otherwise they could very well achieved a higher share in the nomination list at a future election pushing the SLFP/UPFA slipping to third place or even to a worst position if the JHU improved based on their achievement. JVP beat several top SLFPers in the preference voting. JVP candidates topped the lists in most of the districts including Colombo, Gampaha, Galle, Kurunegala, Kegalle, Ratnapura and Kalutara while in some areas, they over took senior SLFPers.
Wimal Weerawansa was ahead of UPFA group leader Susil Premjayanth in Colombo while Anura Bandaranaike the Gampaha group leader was behind JVP’s Vijitha Herath. All three top slots in Ratnapura and Galle districts were occupied by JVP members. Anura Kumara Dissanayake led in Kurunegala. Mangala Samaraweera and Mahinda Rajapaksa SLFP heavyweights. In Matara and Hambantota had JVPers hot on their trail. According to some SLFP sources at one stage the JVP had broken away from the UPFA campaign to launch its own propaganda, promoting its nominees. On a Presidential directive, the SLFP had called off its poster campaign midway, but the JVP had gone on pasting posters till the eleventh hour.
For the first time, both major parties suffered at 2004 polls. The voters were saying “enough”. They did not trust the two parties. If not for the number of JVP MPs and those secured by the other smaller parties of the Alliance, the SLFP would have got a little over 50 seats. The same with the UNF. Without the minority parties like CWC and SLMC, the UNP would be left with a little over 60 members. On April 2, 2004, the franchise holders of this country reduced both these parties the worst defeats they have suffered since the PR system came into being. They have proved beyond doubt that they are incapable of or will not deliver, and the people were not left high and dry without alternatives. The JHU grabbed a fair portion of UNF while JVP siphoned out quite a segment from UPFA, which is why, there were “winners” to talk about.
Another “winner” at 2004 was the Jathika Hela Urumaya polling over half a million votes and securing 9 seats, a performance that no one foresaw when CBK dissolved parliament in February or on nominations day. The result indicated the sense of discomfort among sections of the Buddhists in the country. The JVP and certain sections of the SLFP tried to tap into this nervousness among Buddhists by launching the Desha Hitheishee Jathika Vyaparaya, but the JHU was smart enough to know how they could handled the situation by entering the Bikkhus into the fray.
The people voted in 31 new faces through smaller parties; 25 through the JVP and nine from the JHU. Quite a few undesirable characters lost in the process, a sign of maturity exhibited by the electorate. The JHU, however failed to gain in the areas the political monks claimed as 100% Buddhist areas. Anuradhapura and Galle realized only 2.2%, Polonnaruwa and Monaragala just 1.3%, Matale, Matara Ratnapura and Kegalle a poor 4% are the votes they received. It is a good eye opener to genuine followers of the Buddha.
The UPFA threw every trump slandering the JHU bikkhus. They abused state media using monks loyal to the SLFP and the JVP to condemn the decision of the bikkhus to contest elections. They went to the extent to spread a rumour over state media on the eve of the election that the Sangha Council of the JHU had withdrawn en masse.
SLMC and UNF
A disputed electoral pact between the SLMC and UNF helped their opponents in the East and Puttalam that contributed to the final result.
This hastily arranged agreement, brought the two parties to contest Trincomalee, Ampara, and Batticaloa districts separately. Kurunegala they contested under the UNF ticket, with UNP giving into an unreasonable SLMC demand that only one Muslim candidate should be on the Puttalam list.
CWC leader A. Thondaman threatened to have his party contest the Kandy and Nuwara Eliya districts on their own if the UNF denied nomination to CWC nominee Mustapha, CWC sources said. Mustapha succeeded in his bid.
President Kumaratunga’s desire for power
The power sharing struggle reached a new height with the take-over of the three Ministries by CBK on November 4, 2003 and subsequently dissolving and calling a General Election. UNPers attribute this crisis to President Kumaratunga’s desire for power and her devious scheming for eliminating all impediments for her to remain at the highest levels in politics after 2005. It is also surmised that the pressure from the extremist factions including JVP with whom her party struck an alliance –the ‘Sandanaya’ and contesting this election - may have been among other vital reasons.
One cannot however discount the successes of UNF during the two and a half years under the Leadership of Wickremesinghe. The successes were in the economic spheres. Signing the controversial MoU with LTTE though failed to achieve expected outcome; laying foundation towards re-establishing political stability which the country lacked during the past two decades were considered achievements.
Add new comment