Convincing win for Chandrika's party

Lankan prez's party emerged as the largest single party in parliamentary polls, reports PK Balachanddran.

The United Peoples' Freedom Alliance (UPFA), led by President Chandrika Kumaratunga, has emerged as the single largest party in the elections to the Sri Lankan parliament held on April 2. It has defeated the ruling United National Front (UNF) led by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe by 23 seats.

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The UPFA got 105 seats as against 82 secured by the UNF in a house with a total strength of 225.

Though the UPFA is still eight short of a majority, it is hopeful of getting the support of a couple of minor parties to get the 113 required to form a government.

Presidential spokesman, Harim Peiris, told Hindustan Times that the UPFA was confident of getting the support of the Ceylon Workers' Congress (CWC), a party of Indian Tamils, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and the Eelam Peoples' Democratic Party (EPDP), a traditional ally of President Kumaratunga's.

The CWC, which is currently with the UNF, and the SLMC, have 5 seats each. The EPDP has one.

Peiris pointed out that the CWC, the SLMC and the EPDP have traditionally joined governments in order to better serve the people they represented.

About getting the support of the Buddhist monks' party, the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) which has nine members, he said that it might not be necessary, Peiris said. "The JHU has said that it would remain neutral and this is alright by us," he added.

There would also be no need to get the support of the breakaway faction of the ITAK led by Col. Karuna, Peiris said.

The UNF, on the other hand, may find it more difficult to form a government. To begin with, it has only 82 MPs. It is toying with the idea of taking the help of the 22-member LTTE proxy, the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), but this could be an unpopular step because the ITAK is insisting that any government must accept the LTTE's (controversial) proposal for an Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) in the Tamil dominated North Eastern Province (NEP).

Also, the ITAK's support may not amount to all that much because it is a divided house, with the breakaway faction led by Col. Karuna claiming the loyalty of five MPs from his fiefdom of Batticaloa and Amparai.

The UNF could get the support of the 5 member SLMC, which is already an ally. But the SLMC's loyalty is in question now. The UNF may also be hoping to get the support of the Buddhist monks' party, the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) which has 9 members. But the JHU has said that it will support a government only issue by issue. Moreover, it has laid down ten very stringent conditions for its support. Neither the UNF nor the UPFA will be able to fulfil these conditions.

Detailed results

UPFA: 105; UNF 82; ITAK 22; JHU 9; SLMC 5; EPDP and Up Country Peoples' Front (UCPF) one each.

The UFPA had got 44.75%; UNF 36.98%; ITAK 6.8%; and JHU 5.95%; SLMC 1.76%.

The UPFA had won more seats than the UNF in the districts of Gampaha, Kalutara, Galle, Matara, Hambantota, Monaragala, Matale, Anuradhapura, Polannaruwa, Kurunegala, Puttalam, Ratnapua, and Kegalle.

The UNF had more seats in the districts of Colombo, Badulla, Kandy and Nuwara Eliya. The ITAK won the district of Jaffna, Wanni and Batticaloa.