04-04-2004, 02:29 AM
Tigers hold the key to Lankan crisis
IANS[ SATURDAY, APRIL 03, 2004 03:32:35 PM ]
COLOMBO: Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga's alliance on Saturday staked its claim to form a new government as general elections produced no clear winner and raised the prospects of more political uncertainty.
With Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe refusing to accept defeat and hoping to cobble up some kind of a coalition, it was clear that the single largest group in the 225-seat house would be Chandrika's centre-left Freedom Alliance.
Election officials still counting the 10 million votes cast on Friday said the Freedom Alliance could end up with about 105 seats and would be in desperate need of eight more seats to cross the halfway mark needed to form a government.
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which has been propped up by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), was expected to win up to 16 or 18 seats from the country's north and east, giving the guerrillas who still remain heavily armed tremendous say over national politics.
But the TNA's impressive showing was marred by widespread allegations of vote fraud blamed on the LTTE, and Election Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake announced an emergency meeting on Sunday to discuss the complaints of election fraud.
A spokesman for President Kumaratunga said the Freedom Alliance, which includes her Sri Lanka Freedom Party and the Sinhalese-Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) party, was best poised to form a government, however tenuous it may be.
"Even if we don't get 113 seats, even if the system doesn't produce a clear winner, our intent is to form a government," the spokesman said. "The mandate is clearly against the policies of the previous government."
But Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said his rightwing United National Party (UNP), which could end up with 90-odd seats, had not given up hope.
"We will have to wait and see," he told reporters. "I think we will end up in the 1990s and Chandrika doesn't have 113. Either way there will be a minority government."
But the results are a major blow to the prime minister, who had sought a renewed mandate for his government's peace process that followed a historic ceasefire between a war-weary government and Tamil Tigers since February 2002.
Diplomats and politicians admitted that although Sri Lankans were overwhelmingly against any resumption of the ethnic conflict that has claimed around 60,000 lives since 1983, economic factors had turned most voters against the government.
நன்றி - THE TIMES OF INDIA
IANS[ SATURDAY, APRIL 03, 2004 03:32:35 PM ]
COLOMBO: Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga's alliance on Saturday staked its claim to form a new government as general elections produced no clear winner and raised the prospects of more political uncertainty.
With Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe refusing to accept defeat and hoping to cobble up some kind of a coalition, it was clear that the single largest group in the 225-seat house would be Chandrika's centre-left Freedom Alliance.
Election officials still counting the 10 million votes cast on Friday said the Freedom Alliance could end up with about 105 seats and would be in desperate need of eight more seats to cross the halfway mark needed to form a government.
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which has been propped up by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), was expected to win up to 16 or 18 seats from the country's north and east, giving the guerrillas who still remain heavily armed tremendous say over national politics.
But the TNA's impressive showing was marred by widespread allegations of vote fraud blamed on the LTTE, and Election Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake announced an emergency meeting on Sunday to discuss the complaints of election fraud.
A spokesman for President Kumaratunga said the Freedom Alliance, which includes her Sri Lanka Freedom Party and the Sinhalese-Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) party, was best poised to form a government, however tenuous it may be.
"Even if we don't get 113 seats, even if the system doesn't produce a clear winner, our intent is to form a government," the spokesman said. "The mandate is clearly against the policies of the previous government."
But Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said his rightwing United National Party (UNP), which could end up with 90-odd seats, had not given up hope.
"We will have to wait and see," he told reporters. "I think we will end up in the 1990s and Chandrika doesn't have 113. Either way there will be a minority government."
But the results are a major blow to the prime minister, who had sought a renewed mandate for his government's peace process that followed a historic ceasefire between a war-weary government and Tamil Tigers since February 2002.
Diplomats and politicians admitted that although Sri Lankans were overwhelmingly against any resumption of the ethnic conflict that has claimed around 60,000 lives since 1983, economic factors had turned most voters against the government.
நன்றி - THE TIMES OF INDIA
<span style='font-size:20pt;line-height:100%'>Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.</span>