Over 2,400 nominees of 12 political parties and independent candidates contested 263 seats in the Central, North-Central, Sabragamuwa, Uva and Western provinces. Nearly 70% of the 7 million voters turned-out to vote. The PA gained 2.1 million votes (45.3%) winning 130 seats, while the UNP polled 1.9 million (42.6%) taking 112 seats. Despite winning the most number of seats in each of the five councils, the PA secured overall majority only in North-Central Province. Over 340,000 votes were spoiled, including 50,000 in Colombo District, indicating according to observers, a loss of public confidence in the electoral process.
Some 32,500 policemen were deployed, but there was widespread violence in the run-up to and during elections. The police received some 1,000 complaints, including 298 on election day. Murder, grievous injury, abduction and arson were reported. A man was killed in a bomb attack on the UNP office in Kegalle on 4 April. Another UNP supporter died in a clash in Matale on the same day. A PA member was shot dead in Udathumbara on 5 April.
An organised campaign of intimidation was directed against election monitors. Sources say that death threats from PA politicians in some areas forced monitors into hiding. Lands minister DM Jayaratne accused the Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) of supporting the UNP and releasing false statistics. CMEV Director Pakiasothy Saravanamuttu said that the Centre was acting within the law. He has challenged the minister to have legal recourse if there is evidence of illegality.
The CMEV says that 911 polling stations were monitored and in 302 (33%) of them systematic impersonation, vote rigging and chasing out polling agents were observed. The CMEV has concluded that in 5.3% of the 5,942 polling stations, elections were not free and fair. Although this election was not as blatantly violent or overtly fraudulent as the election in the North-Western Province in January, the CMEV says the comparison does not make it respectable.
The People’s Liberation Front (JVP), whose armed revolts in 1971 and 1988-89 cost thousands of lives, has surprised many. It gained 248,000 votes (5.4%) and secured 15 seats in the five councils. The JVP may become a crucial political factor, making it difficult for any candidate of the two major parties to obtain the mandatory 50% of the votes in the presidential elections. If the JVP is set to split the votes in the presidential and general elections in the year 2000, minority votes may become vital.
In the Hill Country, the coalition led by PA ally, the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) won only nine seats. At the last provincial elections the CWC secured 17 seats following a pact with the UNP. Observers say internal conflicts and corruption have eroded CWC’s standing among the plantation workers. That the UNP has received a large section of minority votes in the Hill Country and the Western Province is a disturbing factor in the electoral calculations of the PA. The close contest in the provinces and lack of minority support may make it difficult for the PA to bring forward the dates of the national elections.
The Provincial Councils are elected under the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, following the Indo-Sri Lanka Agreement of 1987, for the purpose of devolving power to the provinces, particularly to the Tamil-majority north-east, as a solution to the chronic ethnic conflict in the island. After ten years, there is lack of effective devolution and provincial elections are seen by some as glorified opinion polls for national elections. The North-East Provincial Council was dissolved in June 1990 and no election has since been held.
With no solution to the ethnic problem in sight and increasing problems for the Tamil community, the PA must do something drastic to win the elections. Tamil party EPRLF leader Varatharaja Perumal has already been brought in from exile in India, and now the PA has turned to the widow of former JVP leader Rohana Wijeweera. She is expected to campaign for the PA in the Southern Provincial election scheduled for 10 June.
Observers believe that the PA no longer represents the broad alliance of democratic forces in the island that enabled victory in the 1994 election. The PA coalition member LSSP’s Vasudeva Nanayakkara crossed over in Parliament on 21 April to join the opposition ranks. Mr Nanayakkara says that the PA government has failed to deliver on its promises to the people, including a solution to the ethnic conflict.
Genuine attempts at peace and ethnic reconciliation, which would give confidence to the minorities, are lacking. The religious delegation which held talks in the Vanni in January with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), were finally able to meet President Chandrika Kumaratunge on 26 April. The President told the delegation that the government’s “war for peace” strategy will continue and the LTTE must renounce its call for a separate Tamil state if peace talks are to be considered.