“Notwithstanding the TMVP’s triumph, the poll results in Batticaloa and the restoration of local body institutions, throw open several challenges to the Government efforts to strengthen gains in the region. More than the TMVP, President Rajapakse’s UPFA needs to live up to the main campaign slogan, promising 'economic development of the east'.”______________________________
by Ajit Kumar Singh
(April 08, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) About 10 months after the security forces (SFs) wiped out the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) from the entire Eastern province, the Sri Lankan Government, on March 10, 2008, conducted elections to nine local body Councils in the Batticaloa District. The Elections marked the completion of the local body polls in the District, as in 2006, elections could be held only for three councils out of 12, due to the unstable security situation. The Batticaloa Elections also marked the completion of the local body polls in the Eastern Province, as elections for the Trincomalee and Ampara local bodies had already been held in 2006. The Elections, while reflecting the commitment of the Government to usher in democracy in the area, were also part of the process of consolidating the Government’s military gains by reinstalling structures of civil administration.
Colombo had been worried about the vacuum that had been created after the ouster of the LTTE from the East, and the elections were also an attempt to legitimise the Tamileela Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) – the political party created by the breakaway ‘Karuna’ faction of the LTTE, now led by Sivanesathurai Chandrakanttan aka Pilliyan – which the Government believes can provide the civil administration and create a situation where the LTTE can never recover a position that would allow it to return to the province.
The legitimacy of the election, however, was disputed as the main opposition United National Party (UNP) and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the latter closely allied to the LTTE, along with some other parties, boycotted the elections, saying that these were not going to be free and fair. "People are terrified at the thought of elections and would feel greatly relieved without it," TNA Batticaloa District Member of Parliament S. Jeyanandamoorthy told Tamil Net on March 7, three days before the polls.
Nevertheless, the elections were, by and large, peaceful. The Deputy Inspector General (DIG)-elections, H.M.D. Herath, disclosed on March 11, that not a single incident of violence was reported on the polling day. According to DIG Herath, 30 violent incidents, mostly minor in nature, were reported during the entire election period, since the January 4, 2008, notification. He also indicated that special measures had been taken to prevent incidents of violence in the aftermath of the poll, with certain candidates and supporters expressing fears of retaliation.
Meanwhile, the largest elections monitoring body in the country, the People's Action for Free and Fair Election (PAFFREL), which deployed more than 300 monitors (including 20 foreign observers) and covered 98 per cent of the polling areas, reported that no incidents of injury or acts of violence were recorded by its 15 mobile units, which travelled to all parts of the District on the polling day. PAFFREL, however, pointed out that there was a lot of pressure on candidates opposed to the TMVP not to contest. "The entire course of the election, from the time of its announcement, was free of overt violence," it said in its interim report on the poll, adding, "However, during this period PAFFREL received several reports of intimidation of candidates." It also noted that weapons were not carried in public, as feared by political adversaries of the TMVP, which was at least partially responsible for their boycotting of the polls. The LTTE had also called for the boycott, ensuring that the TNA would not participate.
Although the LTTE’s public posture in calling for the poll boycott referred to ‘apprehensions’ that the elections would not have been fair and free of violence, such a decision is hardly strange in view of the dwindling political fortunes of the TNA, which had lost its voter base in Batticaloa as well as in the entire Eastern Province. Further, the LTTE was not in a position to guarantee the personal security of TNA candidates, if the latter had chosen to contest. Thus, Batticaloa District Member of Parliament Jeyanandamoorthy, stated on March 7, "The Tamil National Alliance is totally boycotting these polls. Had our party fielded candidates, they would have been brutally murdered by the paramilitary groups. Even our fellow parliamentarians have been murdered. Some of them became victims of bombing. Why, even my own brother was shot dead. In the final Budget voting that took place in November 2007, relatives of the Parliamentarians were abducted in order to ensure that these Parliamentarians abstained from the voting process. I am unable to visit my own constituency."However, buoyed by the outcome of the Batticaloa polls, on March 12 the Government announced that elections for the Eastern Provincial Council (PC), to elect 35 members – 10 in Trincomalee, 11 in Batticaloa and 14 in Ampara, along with two bonus seats that would be offered to the party or independent group that captures the largest number of seats in the Council – will be held on May 10. Corroborating the Government’s upbeat mood Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama, on March 11, stated, "It [the March 10 election] demonstrated the shape of events to come… the success of the election has paved the way for Provincial Council elections in May." Unlike the Batticaloa polls, the PC election is being contested by all the major political parties barring the pro-LTTE TNA.
The TMVP, a registered political party with a ‘(para)military’ setup, won eight Pradeshiya Sabhas (Local Councils) out of the total of nine councils for which the elections were held. It secured 61 seats, while the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UFPA) won 15 seats. Although the UPFA won the Batticaloa Municipal Council with 11 out of 19 seats, Shiwageetha Prabhakaran, a woman representative of the TMVP, was elected as Mayor of Batticaloa, confirming the fact the President Mahinda Rajapakse’s Government is trying to pay back the ‘Karuna faction’ and the TMVP for their support to the SFs in wiping out the Tigers from the East.
There were nine political parties and 22 independent groups fielding 831 candidates for 101 seats in the nine local Councils and the Batticaloa Town municipality. A total of 270,471 voters were eligible to exercise their franchise. 285 polling stations functioned with 26 counting centres. More than 4,200 polling staffers were on duty along with 6,425 Police/security officials to ensure a free and fair poll. Despite persistent rain in most parts of the District resulting in heavy flooding, and the lurking fear of sabotage on the part of the LTTE, the polls witnessed a 59 per cent voter turnout. The Koralepattu North Pradeshiya Sabha Division recorded the highest percentage of polling (79.8 per cent) while the lowest figure, for the Batticaloa Municipal Council, was around 49 per cent.
The large voter turn out, in spite of the LTTE’s boycott call, was an indication of the lost influence of the rebels over a large area, where the outfit commanded unflinching deference about just over a year ago. The restoration of democratic institutions will bring welcome relief for the population after years of LTTE dominance.
Notwithstanding the TMVP’s triumph, the poll results in Batticaloa and the restoration of local body institutions, throw open several challenges to the Government efforts to strengthen gains in the region. More than the TMVP, President Rajapakse’s UPFA needs to live up to the main campaign slogan, promising 'economic development of the east'. The Government, after the final eviction of the LTTE from the Eastern Province in July 2007, embarked on the Nagenahira Navodaya (Reawakening of the East) Programme will have to deal with the issues of resettlement of all internally displaced persons (IDPs), economic development, creating employment and setting up an effective civil administration in the region.
The most important task ahead for the newly elected local bodies will be to ensure the safety and security for the common man. Terrorism related fatalities in the entire Eastern province have, of course, witnessed a steep decline – from 1,782 in 2006, to 845 in 2007, and just 35 in the first quarter of 2008. Batticaloa has witnessed similar declines: while 624 fatalities were recorded in the District in 2006, the number declined to 570 in 2007. Only 17 fatalities have been reported in the first quarter of 2008. Nevertheless, insecurity and fear remain pervasive. There have been almost daily occurrences of incidents of violence and evidence of all-pervasive anarchy – abduction, disappearances, extortion and intimidation – in the District, as well as in the entire Eastern Province. The presence of armed TMVP cadres has added to the complexities of the situation. If the gains of the recent past are to be consolidated, and a permanent stability established in the Eastern Province, Colombo will have to find a way out of this mess sooner rather than latter.
( The Writer, Research Assistant, Institute for Conflict Management )
- Sri Lanka Guardian
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