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Dissensions stall govt formation in Sri Lanka
UPFA is finding it difficult to form a government with a simple majority, reports PK Balachanddran.
The United Peoples' Freedom Alliance (UPFA), which emerged as the single largest party after the April 2 Sri Lankan parliamentary elections, is finding it difficult to form a government with a simple majority.
While it needs at least 113 MPs to support it in a house of 225 members, it has only 106 supporters as on date.The single member Eelam Peoples' Democratic Party (EPDP) is the only outside supporter now.
Yet, President Chandrika Kumaratunga, who heads the UPFA, went ahead and swore-in a Prime Minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa. He now heads a one-man government.
The choice of Rajapaksa and the swearing-in itself were controversial, showing dangerous cracks in the UPFA.
Rajapaksa was not the favourite of either President Kumaratunga or the Janatha Vimukthi Peramana (JVP) a key constituent of UPFA with 40 MPs. The President and the JVP preferred former Foreign Minister Laskshman Kadirgamar. Both President Kumaratunga and the JVP had been seeing Rajapaksa as a threat.
This conflict was evident at Rajapaksa's swearing-in ceremony on Tuesday. Only two JVP MPs bothered to attend it, though Kadirgamar did. A glum faced President Kumaratunga, smiled only once during the ceremony.
For Rajapaksa it had been a hard battle against formidable forces. Ultimately, it was his impeccable political record and background which swung the decision in his favour. Kadirgamar, capable as he might be, was not an elected member of parliament and had never been one. He had no roots or support in the party either.
The communal factor also played a role. While Kadirgamar was a Tamil and a Christian, Rajapaksa belonged to the majority Sinhala-Buddhist community. The April 2 elections had seen a resurgence of Sinhala-Buddhist feeling and it would have been politically incorrect to ignore this and deny the job to Rajapaksa.
However, Rajapaksa is a good political manager and an amiable man, and is expected to overcome all the political and communal barriers in dealing with people in the government and the party.
Outside support not forthcoming
Initially, the UPFA expected to get the support of the Ceylon Workers' Congress (CWC), a party of Indian Origin Tamils with 8 MPs, easily. For one thing, the CWC had been part of Kumaratunga's government earlier and it has had a policy of always being in the government.
But this time, CWC is playing hard to get, though clearly, it is not averse to supporting UPFA and joining its government. Its chief, Arumugan Thondaman, told the press in Colombo on Tuesday that his party was no longer part of the defeated United National Front (UNF) under whose umbrella it fought the elections. He said he was neither with UPFA nor UNF but if any of the two parties formally requested his support, he could consider the matter. He said that no party had made a formal offer.
Hindustan Times learns that Thondaman may consider supporting UPFA if he was approached by President Kumaratunga herself and a good package in terms of ministerial portfolios and other offices was offered by her.
However, CWC activists are not too happy to support UPFA because the JVP is a major power in it. The JVP is seen by the Indian Origin Tamils as a Sinhala-Buddhist communal force.
Muslim support
Theoretically, UPFA could get the support of the five-member Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) led by Rauff Hakeem. But President Kumaratunga, the JVP and some top Muslim leaders in UPFA do not like Hakeem. Ferial Ashraff and Athaullah are dead against Hakeem. To keep Ashraff and Athaullah happy, UPFA might try to do without Hakeem's party.
Buddhist monks' party
That leaves only the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), a new party of Buddhist monks which has nine MPs. But the JHU's leader, Tilak Karunaratne, told Hindustan Times that the party had taken a decision not to give blind support to any other party. "Our support will be issue-based. We also have a 12 point charter of demands, which will be our broad guideline. We are not anxious to prop up any government," he said.
This makes the situation grim for UPFA. But it does not seem to be overly bothered. "So long as the JHU is neutral, it is alright by us," said Presidential spokesman Harim Peiris.
"If CWC supports us, we will have 114 MPs in parliament, one more than necessary for survival. After all, the UNF government too had only 114 MPs," he noted. In the last decade Sri Lankan governments have had to survive on slender margins.
