Voting reality in the East

In the Eastern Province, electors vote mostly on the basis of their community. It is prevalent among the Tamils and the Muslims especially in local government polls.

The village formation pattern and the separate needs and interests of these communities dictate this electoral behaviour. They live in exclusive villages located in a chain viz, a Tamil village, a Muslim village, then a Tamil village and a Muslim village and so on. Founder, Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, M.H.M. Ashraff, described it thus, “pittum thengai poovum pola” (like the rice flour and coconut in bamboo pittu).

Though both communities speak Tamil and make significant contributions to its development, their religious, cultural and social needs are different and economic interests complementary and competitive. Since both communities are engaged in agriculture and fishing, they compete for land and fishing facilities. The demand for land is greater among the Muslims, because their population growth rate is higher and they feel the impact of the expanding Sinhala settlements. Despite this competition, their economies are complementary, because the Muslims, being experts in trading, provide marketing for the agricultural produce and the fish catch of the Tamils.

These factors made both communities feel that their interests are better protected and served when local government institutions are under their control. So, they vote in a manner so that they gain control of the local government bodies in their locality.

That happened at the last local government election in the Batticaloa district. This voter behaviour was marked at the 1988 November 19 North-East Provincial Council election, the only election held for that body created under the 13th Amendment. I covered that election for the Daily News from the Indian High Commission, as most of the dramatic events took place there!

Anyone interested in that story should read former Indian High Commissioner D.N. Dixit’s Assignment Colombo (Pages 240- 254), M.R. Narayan Swamy’s Tigers of Sri Lanka (284-294), both published by Vijitha Yapa Bookshop and my book, Murder of the Moderate (392-395) published by Nivedha Publishers.

The story begins with President J.R. Jayewardene summoning Dixit and Lt. Gen. A.S. Kalkat, Commander, Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) and telling Dixit to find the candidates and for Kalkat to ensure a high voter turnout.

Dixit and Kalkat saw that there was no contest in the Northern Province and an election was held in the east. Dixit arranged that the EPRLF filed nominations for Jaffna and Mannar districts and ENDLF for Vavuniya and Mullaitivu districts and the IPKF ensured that no other nominations were filed. Thus, EPRLF and ENDLF nominees won the 36 seats allocated for the Northern Province unopposed.

EPRLF and SLMC contested the three districts- Ampara, Batticaloa and Trincomalee- in the east. The UNP wavered until the last minute and rushed in with their nomination list at the last minute. In Trincomalee, they were late and their nomination list was rejected. The LTTE ordered the Tamils not to vote, while the SLFP and the JVP boycotted the election.

A majority of the Tamils decided to obey the LTTE order and kept away until noon. But they found the Muslims voting in strength. Then the magic message was spread: “Muslims are going to capture the Council.” The Tamils then rushed to vote to outdo the Muslims, forgetting their opposition to the EPRLF.

The Tamils managed to equal the number of Muslim representatives. Of the total 35 seats, Tamils won 17, Muslims 17 and Sinhalese 1. The SLFP and JVP boycott ensured that the Sinhalese got only one.

The district-wise break up of the results is more interesting. In Batticaloa, EPRLF won 8 and SLMC 3. If the Tamils had voted from morning, they would have collected one more seat. In Ampara, SLMC 9, EPRLF 4 and UNP 1. If not for the SLFP, JVP boycott, the Sinhala representation would have gone up to 4 or 5, thus reducing the SLMC and EPRLF share. In Trincomalee, EPRLF and SLMC secured 5 each. There too, the SLFP, JVP boycott and the late entry of the Tamil voters affected their representation.

Sri Lanka and India claimed the ‘democratic exercise’ a success, as 399,066 of the 534,306 electors had voted.

I was one of the group of Colombo-based journalists taken on January 2, 1989 aboard the Indian Air Force Russian-built Antanov troop carrier from Ratmalana to China Bay, to cover the ceremonial opening of the North-East Provincial Council. First Secretary, Indian High Commission, Dr. Jai Sankar, coordinated the media coverage.

I do not expect a repeat of the 1988 November scenario but, that trend cannot be totally discounted, for the slogan Pillayan sounded after nomination that, “the Tamils should unite to secure the chief ministership for the Tamils”, is bound to have its impact. And the slogan Rauff Hakeem and Hizbullah had raised that, “Pillayan should be prevented from becoming chief minister”, has begun to reverberate in the entire east.

Tamils have no choice, because the UPFA had fielded Pillayan as a prospective chief minister and the UNP had nominated Basheer Segu Dawood as the lead candidate for the Tamil majority Batticaloa district. UNP Tamil supporters are disturbed. Dawood had called upon the Muslims of Batticaloa to unite under Rauff Hakeem’s leadership to win for the Muslims the chief minister post.

The UPFA, in a clever move to maximize its vote in the Batticaloa district, had nominated Hisbullah to contest, with the promise that he would be made the chief minister, if he collects more representatives. He had appealed to the Muslims to unite under his leadership.

Sinhalese, who live in high concentration in Ampara and Trincomalee districts face the problem of split in their votes. But the Sinhala representatives are going to play a significant role in the choice of the chief minister and by its alliance, the UNP has committed their support to Hakeem. The UPFA is keeping its options open between Pillayan and Hisbullah and had committed the support of its Sinhala representatives to the one who gathers more representatives.

On polling day, don’t be surprised if the magic slogan “vote for the candidate of our community” works.