Presidential election: It sho

160 computer workstations set up by Basil at Temple Trees to coordinate election campaign Hand-picked organisers appointed raising fears whether the SLFP old guard will be left out at next parliamentary polls Confusi Vatican

The main contenders for the upcoming presidential election possibly on January 8 next year have now gone into high gear making preparations. This is notwithstanding high tensions within their own camps over different but contentious issues.

More active is the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) which wants to see its candidate Mahinda Rajapaksa return with a higher majority. The nerve centre of its operations is 'Temple Trees'. Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa who is spearheading the campaign has taken time off from his ministerial tasks. Whilst keeping a close watch on those responsibilities, he spends most of his time at the TT Operations Centre now. There he presides over meetings, attended by some specially assigned provincial councillors and former corporation chairmen, among others, on campaign strategies and liaising with those in the electorates.

The enormity of the campaign can be gauged from the infrastructure that has been put in place. Some 160 separate tables with 160 desktop computers -- one for each electorate -- are linked to field cocoordinators in the different electorates. Those at the desk feed inputs to these computers from the respective electorates. Thus, data on the woes of voters and the localities where they are most prevalent will be at their fingertips. So will the information from Opposition strongholds they need to neutralise. The 160 electorates are with the exception of those in the North. The coordinators have been picked from those who are being described as "politically very capable" and are "loyal and strongly committed to UPFA ideals and policies of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party," a source said.

The move, rightly or otherwise, has come as concern for the old guard in the UPFA or more particularly in the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). They question whether the exercise has connotations beyond the presidential election. What is bugging them is whether most of the hand-picked coordinators would eventually end up as candidates at the next Parliamentary elections. More so with the thorough grinding they will receive during the presidential poll campaign. No response could be obtained from those responsible whether this was a sign of a changing of the guard, the old giving way to the new.

The increasing certainty of the presidential poll on January 8 has raised another issue -- the visit of Pope Francis. He is still scheduled to arrive on January 13 for a three-day visit. An advanced team from the Vatican arrived in Colombo yesterday to examine the ground situation and determine whether the visit should remain on schedule. Tomorrow, the team will meet External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris during an inter-agency conference at the EAM where the advance team will learn about the arrangements being made.

The Vatican delegation will also meet the members of the Catholic Bishops Conference. The Vatican's position on the visit was explained to UPFA leaders by the Archbishop of Colombo and head of the Catholic Bishops' Conference His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith. He has said that the convention was that the Pope does not visit a country that faces elections for at least one month before that event. Similarly, he also does not visit a country for a month after elections are held.

The UPFA Government is keen to ensure the Pope's visit, currently on schedule, is not in any way changed. So much so, Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa addressed a meeting of the Catholic Bishops' Conference on October 24. Of the 14 Bishops representing different dioceses, two were absent. They were Jaffna's Bishop Rt. Rev. Thomas Savundranayagam and Trincomalee's Bishop the Rt. Rev. Kingsley Swamipillai. The Defence Secretary told the bishops he had ensured the highest security precautions were in place. Secretary Rajapaksa said it was not only the Catholic community that would be disappointed but also the UPFA Government if the Pope's visit did not materialise. It would also reflect as a humiliation on President Rajapaksa, he claimed. The bishops explained that all local developments were being reported to the Vatican and it was the Vatican that would have to make decisions, if any. It is clear that such a decision -- whether Pope Francis would visit Sri Lanka or not - will be taken after the advance team returns to the Vatican and files its report.

Galle's Bishop Raymond Wickremesinghe, Chairman of the Media and Information Unit for the Papal Visit, said in a media statement on Friday: "We have been made aware of certain reports circulated among some social media with the title 'Stop the Papal visit in January,' MR pressurizes the Church".

Their statement adds: "We wish to categorically deny this report and clarify matters as follows:

"Our request to the Government has always been that any election should not be held immediately after the visit of the Holy Father to Sri Lanka because that might be politically used by interested parties as a campaign tool.

"If an election is to be held before the visit, it must be held in such a way that the preparations for the visit should not be disturbed by such an event. We have appealed to the President to give us a sufficient gap between the two events and they have assured us that everything will be done in order that the visit goes ahead without disruption due to an election.

"The decision to hold an election and the dates to be fixed for such an election are entirely in the hands of the Government and the Elections Commissioner. The Church has no interest in trying to interfere in that matter.

"At no time did the President or anyone in the Government apply any pressure on the Church to stop or postpone the visit of the Pope to Sri Lanka. In fact they have given us a lot of cooperation and support to make all the necessary arrangements for the visit. They have also officially sent an invitation from State to State to the Holy Father and it had been accepted. The Government also has informed us that the President, when he visited the Holy Father reiterated that the Government was very keen to welcome him in Sri Lanka".

A Colombo datelined report in the Vatican News said that the visit was on schedule but added, "In recent days, there have been doubts and concerns about the Pope's visit, given the presidential election in the country will be held soon and current President, Mahinda Rjapaksa could set them for January, so in the days immediately before or after Pope Francis' visit. The Church asks the vote to be postponed at least to the end of January 2015, to avoid any kind of exploitation."

Also in Colombo, the Chief Opposition Whip John Ameratunga, who is known to be close to President Rajapaksa and accompanied him on the trip to the Vatican recently, briefed those at the highest levels of his party, the United National Party. He has said he was taken into the portals of the Vatican only after President Rajapaksa had paid his respects to the Holy Father. Ameratunga has told his party hierarchy that he asked Rajapaksa not to hold the presidential election till the visit by Pope Francis was over. Rajapaksa had included Ameratunga in his entourage to project that he was on a bipartisan mission when he visited the Vatican. Amaratunga had obtained his party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe's permission to join Rajapaksa on the visit, but UNP members were unhappy that he had lent the party's support for what was, they felt, a move by Rajapaksa to get an unfair advantage with the Catholics in the forthcoming Presidential election. Earlier, Ameratunga was a member of Rajapaksa's official delegation that toured both Palestine and Israel. He remains the Chief Opposition Whip in Parliament and often acts for his party leader in Parliament when the leader is abroad.

A major contentious issue for the UPFA is the future role of the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU). After the abrupt end to its talks with President Rajapaksa on October 21, a delegation met on October 25 a team of UPFA leaders who represent the SLFP. They comprised Ministers Maithripala Sirisena, Nimal Siripala de Silva, Susil Premajayantha, Dullas Allahapperuma, Basil Rajapaksa and John Seneviratne. The JHU team was made up of Ven. Athureliye Rathana Thera, Minister Champika Ranawaka, Udaya Gammanpilla and Nissanka Sri Warnasinghe. At this meeting Minister Rajapaksa was to explain that almost all proposals of the JHU could be acceptable in principle. However, they needed the endorsement of the SLFP. It was a time consuming process. He pointed out that mustering a two thirds support in Parliament for the exercise would be time consuming.

The JHU, however, insists that its constitutional changes be carried through. Minister Ranawaka offered to "be the bridge" between the Government and the Opposition parties if the constitutional changes were to be passed by Parliament ahead of the presidential poll. The JHU is seeking a 19th Amendment to the Constitution. Opposition Leader Wickremesinghe told Parliament last week that the UNP would support such a move. Among other matters, the Pivithuru Hetak and the Jathika Hela Urumaya want constitutional changes through this amendment: To limit the portfolios held by the President to only the Ministry of Defence. To change constitutional provisions that infringe on the sovereignty of the country. These provisions include Land and Police powers in the Provincial Council system. The Executive President to be answerable to Parliament and be subject to judicial action. "I am answerable to Parliament even now. I am empowered to sit in the House. In which country that has a presidential system is the President subject to judicial action. They would then be spending all their time in the courthouse," President Rajapaksa told the Sunday Times this week. He said the subject of electoral reforms was one that is very much receiving the Government's keen attention.

The meeting led to the formation of a joint committee to study the JHU proposals. Three SLFPers - - Nimal Siripala de Silva, Dullas Allahapperuma, Susil Premajayantha together with JHU's Champika Ranawaka and Udaya Gammanpilla -formed the team. However, progress during the talks by the joint team was slow after at least three rounds of talks.

During discussions the joint committee had identified seven specific points from the 35 reform proposals. Whilst three of them related to the executive presidency, others included the need for an independent institution to deal with corruption, an independent Elections Commission, a mechanism to ensure judges are appointed on seniority and capability. The JHU pressed unsuccessfully to have these accepted by the UPFA leadership and implemented ahead of the presidential poll. The result was a meeting of the JHU's Central Committee last Sunday. It decided that if the UPFA leadership did not take any initiative to heed the proposals, the JHU would adopt an "independent stance" at the presidential poll, a senior member said. He refused to elaborate. He said the party would leave the UPFA government. Ahead of the Central Committee meeting, senior members of the JHU met representatives of other Buddhist organisations. They included the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress (ACBC) and the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS). However, adding credence to the likelihood of their veering away from the UPFA was under-