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Consequences
of the Eastern Province elections
The
announcement, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) general secretary
Maithripala Sirisena made on Monday that, the government is
prepared to devolve to the Eastern Provincial Council wide
powers, including police and land powers, is a welcome development.
Law and order, land and education form the base of the agreements,
reached in the long-winding talks J.R. Jayewardene government
had, with the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), with the
help of India, during the years 1984 to 1987.
Land, more than police powers, was the main cause for the
Tamil demand for autonomy, which later ballooned into the
demand for separation and the current war. State-aided Sinhala
settlements were the main grievance of the Tamils and Muslims
of the Eastern Province. Currently, it is the major concern
of the Muslim community, that had been pushed to the coastal
belt, in the Ampara district.
List I of the 13th Amendment contains three appendices: Law
and Order, Land and Land Settlement and Education. Appendix
II, which deals with Land and Land Settlement states at the
outset that, ‘State Land shall continue to vest in the
Republic and may be disposed in accordance with Article 33
(d) and written law governing the matter’ and adds that,
‘ Subject as aforesaid. Land shall be a Provincial Council
Subject, subject to the following special provisions.”
The special provisions enumerated in the appendix contains,
three sections. They say that, the government will provide
the Provincial Council the state land, which it requires,
for its use. The important part is subsection 1.3, which reads:
Alienation or disposition of the State land within a Province
to any citizen or to any organisation shall be by President,
on the advice of the relevant Provincial Council, in accordance
with the laws governing the matter.
Under these provisions, the provincial council has only advisory
powers. The ultimate decision will be with the President.
But if the Chief Minister is powerful, he could have his way
utilising the following principles of selection of allottees,
for settlements, enumerated in Section 2.2.
The principles are:
1.The selection of allotees will be determined, having regard
to the criteria, including the degree of landlessness, income
level, size of family and agricultural background of the applicants.
2. The distribution of all allotments of such land, in such
projects, will be on the basis of national ethnic ratio.
3.The distribution of allotments in such projects, should
be done in a way, not to disturb very significantly, the demographic
pattern of the Province and in accordance with the principle
of ensuring community cohesiveness, in human settlements.These
principles were first enumerated in the Dudley Senanayake-
Chelvanayakam Agreement of 1965.
The government had promised India and the international community,
to implement the 13th Amendment in full. Indian Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh mentioned this, when Tamil Nadu politician
Vaiko met him last month and urged him, to intervene in the
Sri Lankan conflict. The Indian Prime Minister said, “They
have told us that, they were implementing the 13th Amendment,
Let’s wait.”
President Mahinda Rajapaksa claims that, Saturday’s Eastern
Provincial Council election had granted his government, a
mandate to continue the war against terrorism, while Sri Lanka
Muslim Congress leader Rauff Hakeem calls the mandate flawed.
These things happen in every country, after every election.
There are some important matters, that merit serious consideration:
low voter turn out, high number of rejected votes, the sudden
switch of Tamil votes to the UNP and the poor performance
of the JVP.
Basing my measurement, on the traditional voting pattern of
Tamils and Muslims of the East, I calculated that, the voting
would be heavy and that it would be, on communal basis. There
was no change in the communal basis of voting. Muslims voted
for Muslim candidates, Tamils for the candidates of their
community and the Sinhalese also voted similarly. Voting for
the elephant and the betel did not change the pattern. Want
proof: look at the preferential votes.
My calculation of heavy voting was correct, with regard to
Muslims. In some polling stations, it was over 80 percent.
The rivalry between the SLMC Muslims and those on the government,
made more Muslims to vote. The voting in Tamil areas in Batticaloa
and Trincomalee was poor. In Batticaloa, the Tamil stronghold,
around 129,000 eligible voters did not vote. Pillaiyan admitted
in a statement that, his group won the backing of about 80,000
voters. In the Trincomalee district over 100,000 did not vote.
Why did they boycott? Or was this the result of displacement?
The high rate of rejection of votes, is another feature, that
needs attention. Over 50,000 of the votes cast were rejected
in the entire province, The break up is: Batticaloa 21,088.
Ampara 20,997 and Trincomalee 12,695 votes. Doubts expressed
by one presiding officer was: This looks like willful spoiling
of votes.
Local correspondents of media organisations have reported
that, there was a last minute rush in the polling stations,
in the Tamil villages in Batticaloa and Trincomalee. Is there
any truth in the rumour that, the TNA had given a signal to
its supporters, to vote for the UNP?
The performance of the JVP was pathetic. It collected only
9000 votes in the entire province.
The next few days are going to be interesting. Who is going
to be the Chief Minister? Pillaiyan or Hizbullah? Whoever
it would be, he will leave a lasting impact in the country.
More important is the question, of how, the council is going
to function.
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