Sri Lanka Gears up for Presidential Polls

The election campaign in Sri Lanka is getting more intense and bitter by the day. Despite President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s order for police to step up security, poll-related violence has not stopped and there are already doubts on the fairness of the vote. Keerthi Tennekoon is from a group called Campaign for Free and Fair Elections or CaFFE in Sri Lanka. He says violence and violations of election laws are occurring in an organised manner in the run-up to the vote:

"When it comes to election violence and election law violations, CaFFE has so far received reports of more than 700 incidents, including four unfortunate deaths and violations are coming from both the parties."

Capitalising on the victory over the LTTE

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has called the polls two years before schedule. He thought he would win another term by cashing in on the victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam or LTTE who fought a civil war for nearly three decades. But his hopes for a clean sweep were crushed when his former army chief, Sarath Fonseka, quit the army last November and announced that he was also contesting the presidency.

Both the leaders from the majority Sinhalese community claim credit for defeating the Tamil Tigers. "Rajapaksa was banking on getting the credit for winning the war," says Jehan Perera, the executive director of the National Peace Council, a civil rights body in Colombo.

"It is the main accomplishment of his government to eliminate the LTTE in the manner it did where there is no more terrorism, no more war, no more fear of bombs. That is a great achievement, of course with a very high cost. Unfortunately for the president he cannot claim the credit now, at least not the full credit, because the general led the army to victory. There he has to rely on his past track record of being a nationalistic leader and a very accomplished politician."

Fonseka’s military background

On the other hand, Fonseka who is the candidate of the newly formed New Democratic Front party, has got support from some main opposition parties such as the United National Party, the People's Liberation Front and also the consortium of ethnic Tamil parties known as the Tamil National Alliance (TNA). If elected, he will be the first military officer to hold the highest post in the country, a thought that has generated at least two opinions about Fonseka’s candidacy, says Perera.

"One is that him being a former military commander would mean Sri Lanka might move towards a dictatorial, harsh rule, where the army itself is brought into play. On the other hand there is a belief that maybe because he comes from a different tradition which is not that of politics, he might actually keep his words and be more prepared to deliver on his promises."

Both leaders have promised economic prosperity in Sri Lanka. To woo minority Tamil voters, President Rajapaksa has offered them greater representation in the legislature, while Fonseka has promised national reconciliation. Both would be welcome.

Author: Disha Uppal
Editor: Thomas Bärthlein