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Rajapakse's party sweeps polls

V.S. Sambandan

COLOMBO: The ruling United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) on Friday swept the elections to 266 local bodies held on March 30. But its key ally, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), managed just one victory.

The UPFA won 216 of the 254 local bodies. The main Opposition party, the United National Party (UNP) finished a distant second with 30 followed by the Tamil National Alliance's five.

The significance of the polls is that it considerably strengthens President Mahinda Rajapakse in his approach to the peace negotiations. The JVP and the all-Buddhist clergy Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) brought considerable pressure on Mr. Rajapakse by demanding the "immediate ouster" of Norway as the facilitator.

The results will have a sobering effect on the shrill rhetoric that had clouded the negotiations process. "The Sri Lankan electorate has reaffirmed its moderate position on the ethnic conflict, through this verdict," Jayadeva Uyangoda, Professor of Political Science, University of Colombo, told The Hindu .

"The JVP and JHU may now find it difficult to pressurise the President to follow a hardline approach." One of the reasons for the JVP's rout, he said, was that they claimed they were "better equipped" to govern rural areas. "The Sri Lankan electorate does not see the JVP as mature enough to govern their lives," he said.

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