Post-election colours, prospects and casualties
by Rajan Philips-August 22, 2015
Sri Lanka’s electoral map the morning after its 16th general election was a fascinating picture of political colours. The middle of the island was all (UNP) green, spreading from west to east and covering the hill country and most of the country’s wet zone. The southern base and much of the dry zone was shot in (SLFP) blue. The north stood out in (TNA) yellow. This broad brush display of colours obviously concealed the many local variations of political loyalties and conflicts. At the all island aggregate level, the regional variations in electoral support translated into 5 million votes and 106 seats for the UNP-led alliance (UNFGG), 4.7 million votes and 95 seats for the UPFA, and just over half a million votes and 16 seats for the TNA. The only missing colour and the surprising result came at the expense of the JVP which polled 543,944 votes and obtained six seats, much lower than many observers were expecting. Otherwise, the results were as expected. The UNP alliance has won a substantial victory and the UPFA’s hijacking mission to ‘bring back Mahinda’ has suffered a serious defeat. In the north, the Tamil voters have mightily (65% to 75% voter support in every riding) endorsed the TNA’s pragmatism and swept aside the messianic idiocy of a maverick Chief Minister and the provocative agency of third generation Tamil Congress.