DUA scoffs SLMC claim

COLOMBO: Democratic Unity Alliance (DUA) has scoffed the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) claim that they have done better in the East this time and had pointed out that the SLMC had won because of the UNP support.

DUA Chairman and former Parliamentarian Uthmalebbe told party members that in Kalmunai the SLMC and UNP Alliance could get only 44 per cent of votes which means the Opposition has the majority.

How can the SLMC then claim that they have won the Local Government elections, he asked.

He said in the Kinniya Pradeshiya Sabha, the party got some votes because of their alliance with the UNP and also because there was no credible opposition, with the rejection of the DUA nomination list.

"But the overall picture had been bleak and this is reflected in the results of the Kinniya Urban Council where the SLMC-UNP Alliance was able to obtain only 39 per cent of the votes. In the Thambalagamuwa Pradeshiya Sabha, the SLMC lost very badly. But the biggest blow to the SLMC was in Akkaraipattu where they could muster only six per cent of the votes. Akkaraipattu is a major Muslim power base," he said.

Uthmalebbe pointed out that in Navinthanvili, the SLMC - UNP Alliance had got less than 29 per cent of the votes and in Potuvil not more than 37 per cent.

In Eravur the SLMC could muster only 36 per cent of the votes and in Oddamavady a pathetic 40 per cent. This too the SLMC got because of the rifts between the other contending parties which the party exploited to its benefit. But in spite of such Machiavellian tactics, the SLMC could not make an impression amongst the Muslims, he said.

Uthmalebbe said the SLMC claim was a joke if one were to take into consideration that outside the East the SLMC contested most of the places under the UNP symbol.

"Most of those 'SLMC' councillors outside the East are actually UNP members," he said.

He said the SLMC could muster less than 50 per cent of councillors outside the East in 2006 in comparison to 2002 and he reiterated his belief that support for the SLMC was plunging and that sometime in the future the SLMC would be a "goner".