The Hindu : Front Page : Chandrika's UPFA falls short of majority

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 05, 2004

Front Page

Front Page

Chandrika's UPFA falls short of majority

By V.S. Sambandan

COLOMBO, APRIL 4. A change of Government is in the offing in Sri Lanka with the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA), led by the President, Chandrika Kumaratunga, winning the 13th Parliamentary elections, held on April 2.

The UPFA, which won 105 MPs in the 225-member Parliament, however, fell short of a majority to form a government on its own, and would have to depend on smaller minority parties to reach the midway 113-mark.

With neither party winning more than 50 per cent of the popular mandate, the election held under the proportional representation system has resulted in a hung Parliament.

The Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe's United National Party (UNP) was voted out of power and its 82 seats fell far short of the UPFA.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA), backed by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), emerged as the third largest party with 22 MPs. Debutant, Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), which fielded Buddhist monks in all constituencies, won nine seats.

The other parties voted to Parliament were the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (five), the Eelam People's Democratic Party (one) and the Upcountry People's Front (one. The UPFA, a combination of Ms. Kumaratunga's Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), swept the polls at the electoral division level, winning an all-time high of 45.60 per cent of the popular mandate.

The 4.2 million votes polled in its favour secured the party 92 directly-elected MPs and 13 National List MPs taking its tally to 105.

The UNP was defeated in 14 of the 22 electoral districts. The LTTE-backed TNA, which contested under the symbol of the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi, swept the Tamil-majority north and two eastern districts.

But at least four of its 22 MPs are from the eastern Batticaloa district and are known supporters of the rebellious eastern military commander, V. Muralitharan.

First-time contestants, JHU, made inroads in all Sinhala-majority southern districts.

The emergence of the JHU is seen as the popular endorsement of its stand that it would "prevent the domination of the minorities'' and as a protest vote against the two main parties — the UPFA and the UNP.

Despite the sweep by the President's UPFA, Sri Lanka's proportional representation system has not given it a working majority.

With the JHU ruling itself out from any coalition, the party would have to negotiate with smaller parties such as the EPDP, the SLMC and the Ceylon Workers' Congress (CWC), which contested under the UNP.

The exact tally of the CWC has not yet been announced, but it is likely to secure three seats. A combination of these Tamil and Muslim parties could take the UPFA past the required 113 mark, giving it a slender majority as in 1994.

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