Over hung council in East Times Smiles

contributions he made. There was widespread laughter among government MPs.

Hakeem was still in the East when Minister Susil Premajayantha, who is the General Secretary of the UPFA, telephoned him on Wednesday. He said it was now time for a meeting. Moments later, Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa, who was in charge of the election campaign in the East, telephoned Hakeem. He had just arrived in Colombo after having gone abroad before the polls. His departure came amidst reports from the highest levels of the UPFA that allowing SLMC and even Minister Wimal Weerawansa's smaller NFF to field their own candidates was a mistake. The responsibility seemed to rest on Basil Rajapaksa. "Are you now happy," Basil Rajapaksa asked Hakeem. The latter was to respond "if we can join and achieve something, we will be very happy." It was agreed that Hakeem would meet the UPFA leaders.

When Hakeem turned up at Temple Trees on Thursday afternoon, UPFA stalwarts from Sabaragamuwa and North Central Province were in discussion with a team of government ministers. So he sat in an ante-room waiting to be called. Presidential Secretary Lalith Weeratunga who spotted him, walked up and escorted him straight to President Rajapaksa. The conversation began with the previous night's dinner Rajapaksa hosted at Temple Trees for CPA delegates, an event that was commended by most foreign participants. Rajpakasa noted that the event was well received and Hakeem concurred. Hakeem was to briefly set out the SLMC position. He said he was maintaining a "cordial relationship" with the ITAK (or the TNA). He was also to refer to the proposal made by Minister Gunasekera though Rajapaksa did not show much enthusiasm. Yet, he did not oppose it. However, he declared "we can discuss issues. First discuss with the team of ministers. Thereafter, we can talk things over." Then, Rajapaksa summoned Minister Dullas Allahapperuma and asked that Hakeem be escorted to where the ministers were. Soon he was face to face with Ministers Basil Rajapaksa, Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, Nimal Siripala de Silva, Maithripala Sirisena, Susil Premajayantha and Dullas Allahapperuma.

Hakeem opened the discourse with the remarks that "there is a variety of political issues with regard to SLMC support for the UPFA. This I will resolve one by one with President Rajapaksa. Some are sensitive issues.

He said Muslims continue a sustained long term relationship with the government. We are not going to put the President into inconvenience. On the issue of forming an administration in the Eastern Provincial Council, we have been given a resounding mandate by Muslims. We have won two thirds of their votes. This has to be reckoned with"

Then he placed his first demand. He said "there is no question of the UPFA refusing the appointment of an SLMC Chief Minister." In fact, one of the main reasons why the SLMC chose to contest on its own was because the UPFA did not heed its demand for the Chief Minister portfolio. That was one of the conditions the Congress placed during talks before nominations were held.

He argued that "I have the majority. Our independent identity and strength have helped capture the anti-government vote. We can market it." Then he placed the SLMC's second demand. The SLMC wanted another ministerial portfolio in the central government. "This is one way of reducing the polarisation in the East. This has to be acceptable and the government should be broadminded," he noted. Among the other demands was one where a bonus seat should be given to an SLMC member who had served the North Central Provincial Council from 1991. He had, however, lost at the polls last week. Ministers Rajapaksa, Premjayantha, Allahapperuma, de Silva were among those who voiced their dissent strongly on the demands placed by Hakeem. Basil Rajapaksa was to counter Hakeem's arguments by saying "we have got equal number of members" at the EPC. The meeting turned out to be rough with a lot of cross talk between Hakeem and the ministers. It had to be adjourned.

Hakeem told the Sunday Times "I have placed my cards on the table. This EPC is going to be credible in the eyes of the international community with ITAK participation. We will have to give meaning to the mandate we have received. It will have to be in a way to convince my people. There was disillusionment that we were sidelined. That is all I can say now."

Whilst waiting to meet UPFA leaders, pressure on the SLMC mounted from those in the ITAK. India's genial High Commissioner Ashok Kantha hosted a dinner on Wednesday night for a 76-member Indian delegation that attended the CPA sessions. It was led by Meira Kumar, Speaker of the Lok Sabha. Just after Kantha introduced Hakeem to Ms Kumar, Sampanthan walked towards the SLMC leader and a conversation ensued. Sampanthan suggested that they meet on Thursday evening. Parliamentarian Sumanthiran who joined in later said he would attend. Suresh Premachandran who was to leave for Jaffna cancelled his departure. ITAK General Secretary Mavai Senathirajah, who was in Jaffna, was told to return. There, Hakeem was to brief the ITAK (or TNA) leaders. The meeting, however, did not take place. Sampanthan told yesterday's news conference "we were informed that Mr. Hakeem was at Temple Trees at a discussion and hence a meeting on Friday night was not possible." He said during the polls campaign Hakeem had assured that the SLMC would protect "the Muslim identity" and the "interests of the Tamil speaking people." He said he hoped he would fulfil those assurances.

In fact, on Friday night Hakeem was with all SLMC parliamentarians with the exception of Basheer Segu Dawood. They were discussing the outlines of the briefing Hakeem was to give the ITAK/TNA delegation.

Just then Hakeem received a telephone call on his mobile phone. It was Minister Basil Rajapaksa seeking an urgent meeting that night. During a late night discussion, some of the outstanding issues were discussed. One SLMC source said some "of the issues were resolved whilst others remain to be discussed with President Rajapaksa." Hakeem telephoned the President last night. It was agreed that the two should meet late last morning. Earlier yesterday, Rajapaksa was busy in Gampaha opening a Ranaviru Housing project.

There were some embarrassing moments too for Hakeem at the Indian High Commissioner's dinner. He was in the company of Minister Navin Dissanayake, UNP parliamentarians Rosy Senanayake and Eran Wickremeratne. Rosy asked Hakeem, "Which way are you going?" He replied "It's a moral dilemma for me." Sumanthiran was to soon point out that "you said the same thing when the 18th Amendment was passed in Parliament. You supported it then."

All major players at the three provincial polls articulated their own positions over victory or defeat in comments to the Sunday Times. Here are a few of them:

Minister Dullas Allahapperuma: "Compared to the provincial elections in 2008, the UNP and the JVP have suffered setbacks. The JVP has almost been wiped out. The UPFA has suffered a setback in the Eastern province. About 70 per cent of the population in the province are minorities. Considering that fact, we are satisfied with the votes we have gained in the East'.

"It is our party that has gained the highest number of votes in the East and therefore we have the right to form the Provincial Council. We will be forming one with the support of the SLMC. There are no major issues with the SLMC which cannot be resolved. Even before the elections there was agreement with the SLMC and therefore we do not see an issue in getting the support of the SLMC."

Tissa Attanayake, General Secretary of the United National Party (UNP): "Compared to the last parliamentary elections in 2010 we have received an additional 126,000 votes. The UPFA votes have reduced by 60,000. This is an indication that the government is becoming unpopular. Our party's re-organisation programmes have brought us success. In the Eastern Province the situation was different. Last time the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) contested along with the UNP. However in Ampara we have been able to increase our votes. Overall we have an increase of about seven per cent compared to the Parliamentary elections. We are confident that we could keep improving by the next parliamentary elections."

In a separate statement, former deputy UNP leader, Karu Jayasuriya said: "It is not possible to change the Government through a Provincial Council election, but we could have used it as a first step towards the establishment of a UNP rule. It is obvious from the election results that on this occasion too, party loyalists did not go to the polling station to vote. I wish to state in good faith that we all should draw our attention to this fact. At least in this instance we must realise the reality."

Notably, Attanayake's comparison is with the 2010 parliamentary polls and not the 2008 provincial elections. Nevertheless, the party's Chief Ministerial candidate, Anuruddha Kasthurinayake, a staunch loyalist of leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, failed to get elected to the Council. He was tenth receiving only 11,484 votes. However, in Sabaragamuwa, Hasitha Samantha topped the UNP list. Samantha is one who openly challenged deputy leader Sajith Premadasa at the inauguration of the UNP polls campaign in Ratnapura. The UNP Chief Ministerial candidate for Sabaragamuwa was returned second in the preferential list. Even if all registered voters who did not cast their votes polled for the UNP, it would not overcome the gap with the UPFA. It could have been narrowed by winning over UPFA votes, a factor that has not worked effectively. Parliamentarian Jayasuriya's claim, on the other hand, reflects the dilemma of a divided UNP.

Tilvin Silva, General Secretary of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP): "The government distributed water pumps and other goods to win votes. State power was misused heavily to buy over votes. The Commissioner of Elections made an attempt to stop some of the illegal activities. He was not successful in most of the instances. This too affected the results. The outcome of the elections is not going to benefit the average man. Even in the past we have seen this happen. From this weekend we will be having a series of seminars to explain to the public how the party will carry on its activities following last week's elections. We will also focus on other issues that concern the public".

Notwithstanding Silva's claims, the political future of the JVP does remain an important question. It held four seats after the 2008 PC polls, two in Sabaragamuwa and one each in North Central and Eastern Provincial Councils. It was able to retain only one seat in the North Central PC this time. There is little doubt that contributory factors include the exit of one time strongman Wimal Weerawansa and the split in the party with the Kumar Gunaratnam faction going its way. This is the first elections the JVP contested since the party broke in two. Weerawansa's National Freedom Front (NFF) won one seat in Trincomalee obtaining 9,522 votes. The success is largely due to its candidate, Jayantha Wijesekera, who is a popular figure. He received 7,303 preference votes whilst the next in line received 1,072. Other than that, not one candidate received more than 400 votes. On the other hand, if the NFF were to contest with the UPFA, there was a certain chance that the ITAK would have been defeated in the Trincomalee District. The gap between the votes received by the ITA and the UPFA was a mere 1072.

The only Tamil candidate elected from the entire Eastern Province on the UPFA ticket was Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan, the former Chief Minister. He and his bodyguards were in one of Colombo's leading hotels yesterday as UPFA leaders held talks to resolve the question of a Chief Minister. The rest were Muslims. Even the sister of former LTTE Eastern Commander and now Minister, Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Karuna was defeated. Thus, a UPFA nominee for the post of Chief Minister, if it has its way during talks, is Najeeb Abdul Majeed from the Trincomalee district, a one-time non Cabinet rank Minister.

Another clear message that emerged from elections to the the three PCs is the lack of any concern by voters over some burning issues in the country. The question of rising cost of living, scandals involving the distribution of sub-standard fuel, galloping rate of crime, dengue reaching epidemic proportions, the saga over "Z" score, the strike by university academics, rise in corruption and malpractices, to mention a few, had little or no effect. If these issues affect the middle class society, it seems increasingly irrelevant to the peripheral areas.

The provincial polls last week show a significant trend. Despite no serious threats of the resurgence of a Tamil militancy, Sinhala nationalism continues to play a greater role. Examples are how UPFA is the single largest party to win multi-ethnic Ampara and the NFF's one seat in the Trincomalee District. Both in Sabaragamuwa and North Central provinces, Sinhala votes between UPFA and the UNP continue to remain in 60-30 gap since 2005 presidential polls. It brings to fore the question on how the government's proposals for reconciliation and implementation of the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) will take effect. Now, the SLMC's debut with a strong footprint in the east adds a new dynamic. It has all the conditions for a polarisation between the SLMC and the ITAK. Will political parties dust off older proposals for "asymmetrical devolution" or seek different enclaves on ethnic grounds? The UPFA leadership would have a lot to ponder over as it discussed the SLMC demands late last night.