CLASSIFIED | POLITICS | TERRORISM | OPINION | VIEWS

UNITED NATIONAL PARTY INSIDERS SAY ELECTION DEBACLE WILL DEFINITELY LEAD TO LEADERSHIP CRISIS

By Walter Jayawardhana

The failure of the Ranil Wickramasinghe led United National Party (UNP) to win a single parliamentary electoral area in both the North Central Province and the Sabaragamuwa Province may lead to a serious leadership crisis in the main opposition party in parliament, party insiders said.
“ With the cost of living so high ,” said a party insider, “it is amazing that the ruling party was able to gain such a lead in the recently concluded Provincial Council elections, even with the alleged election violence our party is going to bring forth as cause for the government victory,” said an opposition back bencher who also said the defeat would certainly lead to an another leadership crisis and a call for the democratic reform of the party. He said for obvious reasons he would like to be anonymous right now.

In the recently concluded provincial council elections, the UNP, the country’s main opposition party did not win any polling division in the two Provinces.

The parliamentary electorates of the Provinces had totally rejected the opposition party in all 27 polling divisions. The ruling Freedom Alliance had won the Polonnaruwa, Minneriya, Kalawewa, Medawachchiya and Kolonne polling divisions with a majority of over 10,000 votes, analysts said.
The ruling Alliance secured 59 percent of the votes in the Polonnaruwa electorate. “In Minneriya it was over 62 percent. The percentage in Medawachchiya and Kolonne polling divisions exceeded 59 percent. A notable feature was the 60 percent votes secured by the Freedom Alliance in the Rambukkana electorate, while in Kegalle it was 61 percent,” the government controlled Independent Television Network (ITN) said.

The ITN further noted, “The UNP as well as the JVP suffered a serious defeat. The JVP had nine representatives in the North Central Province after the 2004 elections. However, only one member was returned from yesterday’s results. Not a single JVP member was elected from Polonnaruwa, displaying the serious setback the party has suffered. The JVP had 10 representatives in the Sabaragamuwa Province after the 2004 elections. However, only two members have been elected this time. As such, political analysts observed that the election result was a unanimous endorsement of the President’s programme.” The foremost mandate the President sought was the endorsement of his policies to rid the country of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE), which he said was strengthened by a Norway sponsored Ceasefire Agreement, signed by the opposition leader Ranil Wickramasinghe with the LTTE.

The total votes polled by the Freedom Alliance Chief Ministerial candidate of the North Central Province Berty Premalal Dissanayake are 105,588. He has polled the highest preferences. The Alliance Chief Ministerial candidate of Sabaragamuwa Mahipala Herath has secured 98,120 preference votes, the Elections Department said.

Meanwhile, Janaka Perera has obtained the highest number of preferences from the UNP in the North Central Province, while Ranjan Ramanayake of the UNP has secured the highest preferences in the Sabaragamuwa Province, the elections department said.

The United National Party inside sources believe that it was the leadership of the UNP, Ranil Wickramasinghe and his cohorts who were rejected at the polls of the Sabaragamuwa and North Central Province who overwhelmingly endorsed the President’s military assault against LTTE.
When the country’s security forces occupied the last pivotal LTTE military garrisons at Thoppigala in the Eastern Province, the UNP leader reportedly ridiculed the victory as a “mere capture of an unimportant jungle.”

When the latest phase of the war was started by the closure of an irrigation canal that supplied water to 30,000 people UNP said the matter should be resolved by peaceful means. Both policies were apparently not very popular among the rank and file of the UNP.

The party insider said, the pro-LTTE policies of the UNP, that caused the election debacle would certainly lead to a leadership crisis in the party.

Disclaimer: The comments contained within this website are personal reflection only and do not necessarily reflect the views of the LankaWeb. LankaWeb.com offers the contents of this website without charge, but does not necessarily endorse the views and opinions expressed within. Neither the LankaWeb nor the individual authors of any material on this Web site accept responsibility for any loss or damage, however caused (including through negligence), which you may directly or indirectly suffer arising out of your use of or reliance on information contained on or accessed through this Web site.
All views and opinions presented in this article are solely those of the surfer and do not necessarily represent those of LankaWeb.com. .

BACK TO LATEST NEWS

DISCLAIMER