Uva Results: Defeat Of The Coalition Of Muslim Political Parties
Dr. Aboobacker Rameez
This month marks the demise of Marhoom MHM Ashraff, the founder of Sri Lankan Muslim Congress (SLMC), and the establishment of the party as a political force in the history of Sri Lanka. Politicians in the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress organized various events in line with the commemoration of their late leader Ashroff in the Eastern Province, given the fact that such a resurrection of his image infinitely boosts the electoral clout.
With the announcement of Uva Provincial Council election, Muslim political parties such as SLMC headed by Minister Rauff Hakeem and All Ceylon People Congress (ACPC) headed by Minister Rishad Bathiudeen joined together under Democratic National Alliance(NUA) to contest the election in coalition on the request made by civil society organizations. This is a historical turn of events, given that the parties which are considered as an arch rival in the sphere of ethnic politics in the North East and some other parts of the country are contesting, for the first time, in unison. With the demise of Marhoom Ashraff, the SLMC suffered a serious blow with a fragmentation of the party due to various factors. Since then, an effort to unite the Muslim politicians, both in the government and opposition, under a common banner for the sake of the society resulted in an utter failure. Thus, despite a coalition of SLMC and ACPC, in the wake of Uva provincial council, is deemed as a positive gesture in the minority politics, it also raised many eyebrows and drawn suspicion and apprehension among the people. Both the SLMC and ACPC, then, mobilized their party stalwarts across the country to garner the support for the coalition in the Uva province and to ensure their party’s representation in the council. However, their mission resulted in vain with no candidate from the coalition has been selected to the council. Clearly speaking, the coalition of these political parties has been defeated overwhelmingly in the province securing only 5045 votes out of 40000 odd Muslim votes in the Uva province.
