The Hindu : Front Page : Rajapakse, a strong contender

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Apr 06, 2004

Front Page

Front Page

Rajapakse, a strong contender

By V.S. Sambandan

COLOMBO, APRIL 5. As Sri Lanka's United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA), which emerged the single largest party in the Parliamentary elections, hopes to form the government tomorrow, the outgoing Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, said today that the island was headed for "instability" as no party had won a clear majority in the April 2 polls.

The UPFA, a combine of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), won 105 seats in the 225-member Parliament, falling eight seats short of the required 113 MPs to form a government on its own. It is expecting the support of the minority Tamil and Muslim parties, its general secretary, Susil Premajayanth, told The Hindu .

The choice of the Prime Minister has been narrowed down to two SLFP leaders — the Leader of the Opposition in the previous Parliament, Mahinda Rajapakse, and the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lakshman Kadirgamar. Sources close to Mr. Rajapakse said he was certain to be named Prime Minister.

The "delay in gazetting the election results" was the reason for the time taken to form the Government, Mr. Premajayanth said. The "Prime Minister will be appointed tomorrow" by the President, Chandrika Kumaratunga. Initially, the UPFA would form a minority government, but it was hopeful of securing the required support "within a couple of days," he said. The UPFA hopes to get the backing of the one-member Eelam People's Democratic Party, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, and the Ceylon Workers Congress.

In a press conference, Mr. Wickremesinghe cautioned that the island would have an "unstable Government" as "no party has an absolute majority." He said: "this will be a minority government, an unstable government and there will be a question mark on how long the government will continue." Disagreeing that the UNP's defeat was a "vote against the peace process," Mr. Wickremesinghe said: "It is not a rejection of the peace process. In my view, the peace process has been accepted by the country." The causes lie elsewhere, he said. The new government "will not be able to transact business in Parliament," to be convened on April 22. "Everything is in trouble," he said, when asked if the peace process was threatened.

The LTTE, which campaigned for the 22-MP Tamil National Alliance, said the poll result was a "clear message" from the Tamils that the "right for Tamil self-rule should be accepted as the basic aspiration of the Tamil people."

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