UPFA landslide
Rasika Somarathna
In the Uva Province, the UPFA swept the board securing 25 seats out
of 34 on offer gaining 418,906 of the votes cast (72.39 percent). The
United National Party (UNP) emerged a distant second polling only
129,144 (22.32 percent) with seven seats. The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna
(JVP) (2.53 percent) and the Up-Country People’s Front (1.59 percent)
had to be contended with one seat each.
In Jaffna Municipal Council polls, the UPFA won 13 seats by gaining
10,602 votes (50.67 percent) with ITAK taking the second slot with eight
seats. Independent group 1 and TULF won one seat each. The UNP did not
secure any seats and got only 83 votes (0.40 percent).
| The United
People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) recorded a resounding victory
at the first post conflict mini elections to be held in the
country. The UPFA made a clean sweep in the Uva Province winning
all polling divisions comfortably and also recorded a historic
victory at the Jaffna Municipal Council elections, which took
place after a lapse of 10 years. However in the polls to elect
representatives to the Vavuniya Urban Council, held after a
lapse of 15 years, the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK)
slightly edged the others winning five seats. The Democratic
People’s Liberation Front (DPLF) won three seats while the UPFA
secured two with the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) winning
one seat. |
Political analysts yesterday described the landslide victory by the
UPFA in Uva where it got over 80 percent of the votes in the Moneragala
district and over 60 percent in Badulla as unprecedented and was only
rivaled by the UNP’s victory margins in the 1977 General elections.
They described the UPFA victory in Jaffna as an endorsement by the
Northern people over the Government’s efforts to liberate them from the
LTTE clutches and the future development plans ahead.
While the UPFA recorded a historic victory in the Tamil dominated
Jaffna, the main opposition United National Party was beaten severely
and failed to secure more than two percent of the votes cast, in both
Jaffna and Vavuniya.
Another salient feature to emerge during the mini poll held for one
Provincial Council, a Municipal Council and a Urban Council was the
confirmation of the changing voting patterns in the country over a
period of time. While the main opposition UNP’s vote bank kept eroding,
the UPFA seems to have gone from strength to strength with each passing
poll.
Meanwhile, Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake issuing a
statement on the conduct of elections noted that the polls to elect
members for the Uva PC, Jaffna MC and Vavuniya UC on the whole, was
conducted in a peaceful atmosphere.
He identified the holding of elections for Jaffna MC and Vavuniya UC
after a period of over 10 and 15 years as a special and significant
feature at the poll.
The Commissioner in his message also noted that the staff at polling
stations had played a key role in ensuring that the voting had been
conducted according to legal requirements.
He also made special reference to the services rendered by the Grama
Niladaris and Superintendents of Estates in issuing temporary identity
cards to voters who did not possess valid IDs and also to security
officials in ensuring a free and fair poll. |
