Uva: President, IGP and Polls chief
Editorial-September 7, 2014
President Mahinda Rajapaksa is reported to have ordered IGP N. K. Illangakoon to take stern action against all those responsible for election violence in Uva. One is intrigued. Is it that the Police Chief had been waiting all these weeks for instructions from the Head of State to act against the perpetrators of violence? Will he now go at full tilt to nab the offenders without fear or favour? If violence persists won’t it be tantamount to the IGP’s failure to carry out the presidential order?
One may argue that the implicature of the presidential directive is that if the IGP had done his job properly election violence could have been prevented. The fact that the President himself has had to intervene to jolt the IGP into action bolsters the Opposition’s claim that the police baulk at taking action against the ruling party politicians responsible for election violence. If the Opposition activists had been the culprits there would have been no need for the President to order the IGP to act; the police would have taken swift action on their own to bring the offenders to justice in next to no time.
It would have been more appropriate if the UPFA politicians and their backers had been asked to refrain from resorting to violence and committing other forms of election law violations in Uva. Some of the Opposition candidates and their supporters are not without blemish though the UPFA politicians are the main culprits; they, too, should be urged to abide by the law.
The IGP, no doubt, has to ensure that the police carry out their duties and functions impartially and efficiently, but the political party leaders cannot absolve themselves of the responsibility for blatant polls law violations committed by their partymen.
The upcoming PC polls are as crucial as a presidential election for both the government and the Opposition because stakes are extremely high. The UPFA obtained 72.39% of the votes and 25 seats out of 34 at the last election to the Uva Provincial Council in August 2009—the UNP 22.32 percent with 7 seats, the JVP 2.53 percent and with one seat and the Up Country People’s Front 1.59 percent with one seat. The UPFA’s failure to maintain the same level of performance in its stronghold, the Southern Province about two month later gave the Opposition’s common candidate project a turbo boost. (At the Southern Provincial Council election in October 2009, the UPFA could secure only 67.88 percent of the total number of valid votes and 38 seats out of 55—the UNP 25.09 percent with 14 seats and the JVP 6.11 percent with 3 seats.)
Five years on, the UPFA has had to retain the same level of popular support in Uva vis-à-vis frantic efforts being made in some quarters to field a common candidate again at the next presidential election expected to be held early next year.
The government may argue that its stellar performance in Uva in 2009 was mainly due to the war victory and it is not fair to expect such a stunning win about five years later. But, the fact remains that in politics ‘fair is foul and foul is fair’ and the Uva PC election will inevitably be a popularity test for the Rajapaksas with one of them in the fray as the chief ministerial candidate. Hence, the UPFA’s desperation to bag the Uva PC with a huge majority!
Meanwhile, Election Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya has warned that he will be compelled to postpone the upcoming polls in view of election violence. Mere warnings won’t do. He has to put his foot down.
