or for that matter jump feet first into the fray, Sri Lanka’s electorate of some 12.8 million voters exercised their civic rights in 22 electoral districts and voted for a fresh beginning last Friday, with 10,660 polling stations in operation throughout the country on the day of the poll.

At the end of the poll, the gamble taken by President Chandrika Kumaratunga paid off drawing the conclusion that despite voters being tried, tested and tired of another election, more than half, on the surface at least, appear to have wanted a change.

This change however has succeeded in throwing Sri Lanka into further political turmoil as the UPFA not only failed to secure a sufficient majority but also to reach the magic 113 seat majority figure.

Perhaps the most positive note this election concluded with was not the number of votes polled by either the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) or the United National Front (UNF), but that thousands of voters in the Jaffna District for the first time in two decades were able to use their franchise.

In Killinochchi for instance it was estimated that as much as 75% of registered voters turned out to cross their ballot papers, an event that has not been witnessed for the last 20 years.

However Tamil parties charged that despite a high voter turnout in the north and east, the election was neither free nor fair, but rigged by the LTTE.

TULF Leader and independent candidate, V. Anandasangaree, together with the EPDP and EPRLF maintains that voter rigging on a massive scale took place in the north and east with a large number of impersonations as well.

According to the Tamil parties, the incidents were most prevalent in Jaffna, Trincomalee and the Wanni. The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SMLC) led by Rauf Hakeem was also vociferous in its accusation that its rebel faction led by A.L.M. Athaullah contesting under the UPFA was involved in mass scale rigging in the Ampara District.

Voter rigging was not just confined to areas in the north and east but allegedly took place in the Kandy and Kurunegala Districts too — prompting the elections commissioner to announce a re-poll in two centers in these two respective districts.

Another important factor that featured in this election was the appalling conduct of the media, both state and private. The gross abuse of the state media despite intervention by the elections commissioner and the misrepresentation and misreporting by some private media institutions marred the election.

To quote Editor, Ravaya newspaper and pioneer of the Free Media Movement, Victor Ivan, "The media is one of the most corrupt in Sri Lanka. Politicians come and go, the people have the power to at least vote them out of office, but the media is here to stay and the fact that it cannot be independent and impartial is one of Sri Lanka’s greatest stumbling blocks to future progress."

On a more optimistic note, for the most part, the 2004 election has been marked by a dramatic decrease in the level of violence. The relatively low levels of violence in all electoral districts, the active law enforcement by the Police Department and the independent action of the elections commissioner were the most positive features of this election.

An aspect that certainly grabbed this election by complete surprise was the rift between the LTTE’s now renegade eastern leader Karuna and Tiger Chief, Velupillai Pirapaharan. A largely stupefied southern leadership decided to remain mum on the internal battle, even as candidates of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) particularly in Batticaloa and Ampara almost immediately became sitting ducks for an assassin’s bullet.

An analysis of the situation in the north and east by the independent election monitoring group PAFFREL asserted that in the north east there was a climate of intimidation due to the fear of assassination and assault by parties and groups that opposed pluralism in Tamil society.

The assassination of three candidates in the east and the climate of terror affecting non-TNA candidates prompted several of them to publicly announce their withdrawal from the electoral contest.

The LTTE’s insistence that Tamil politicians in the north east should contest the elections under one party and of being deemed traitors if they did not, exerted a chilling influence on the ability of rival Tamil political parties to contest the elections.

This had serious implications for voters’ capacity to vote for the candidates of their choice. There was no possibility at all for candidates from such political parties to conduct their campaigns within the LTTE-controlled areas.

The split in the LTTE with the breakaway of its eastern leadership also added to the climate of violence and intimidation. A further factor that marred a free and fair election in the north east was the difficulties placed in the path of people in the north east, both those living in LTTE-controlled areas, and those internally displaced, from casting their votes.

The elections commissioner decided not to set up polling stations in LTTE controlled areas. He directed that cluster polling stations be set up in the government-controlled areas as in the past and that transport be provided to voters to facilitate access to these stations.

It was observed that there was a reasonable presence of polling agents from different parties in Jaffna town. No incidents of violence were reported from this area. There was enthusiastic participation of voters from the LTTE controlled areas, some of whom were voting after a period of 20 years.

In contrast was the situation in the Batticaloa District. Independent poll monitors maintain they saw large scale impersonation taking place in Vavunathivu, Vanthara-moolai and near the ferry from Kokkadichcholai, and in the latter place they saw some of those distributing polling cards being arrested by the police.

In Kattankudy the situation was very tense, and observers claim to have seen an unauthorised pink polling card being used by some voters.

Against this backdrop the south unconsciously made history by enacting one of the most violence free elections since the days of goon squads and pistol wielding, pot bellied politicians. It is pertinent at this juncture to recall Sri Lanka’s most horrific crimes ever committed during an election and that was the cold blooded murder of 10 Muslim youth at Udathalawinna in the Kandy District, on the day of the last general election, December 5, 2001.

Although there were incidents of clashes and assaults involving rival political parties, by and large, voters and candidates could fully participate in the elections and in the campaign with a positive expectation regarding their personal security and ability to freely express their views in the electoral districts outside the north east.

As PAFFREL notes, another contributory factor to the improvement in the conduct of this election was the division of executive powers of the state between the two main rival political parties and the uncertainty about the final outcome of the elections, giving neither of them a monopoly on the use of state power and resources to tilt the balance in their direction.

The Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) too maintained that the April 2 general election was considerably and qualitatively less violent than the December 2001 general election. CMEV by 4 p.m. on Friday stated it had received a total of 102 reports of election related violence on polling day. (See box for details)

Perhaps an important departure this last election, in comparison to the past and in particular the 2001 general election, is that there were no election related killings on April 2, another first in a country previously blighted with blood and guts with the herald of a poll.

Credit in this regard must go to the Elections Commissioner, Dayananda Dissanayake and to the Police Department, which remarkably for the most part mustered sufficient courage to stand tall and enforce the Elections Commissioner’s directives with regard to the prevention of election violations and election related violence.

Significant steps were taken by the Elections Commissioner to stamp out partiality among officials to prevent the outbreak of violence and to enfranchise voters by trying to ensure adequate polling facilities, sufficient protection of polling facilities and adequate monitoring as a deterrent for violence and intimidation.

Colombo District Leader, Jathika Hela Ururmaya (JHU), Ven. Uduwe Dhammaloka Thero said that for the first time in the country’s history, a new entrant has managed to become a third force in the country’s political arena.

Speaking to The Sunday Leader on the country’s peace process, Ven. Dhammaloka Thero said that there was no such peace in the country as the ceasefire agreement signed between the government and the LTTE is only observed by the government while the LTTE is still engaged in eliminating their "enemies." However, while saying that the LTTE cannot be considered the sole Tamil representative for peace negotiations, he also charged that federalism is not the solution as it only divides a united country.

Following are excerpts of the interview:

By Mandana Ismail Abeywickrema

A: It is sad that the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) was engaged in a lot of illegal activities, especially where the abuse of state media was concerned. However, with the entrance of the bhikkus to the main political frame, this time round we witnessed a sharp decline in corruption and terror activities. For the first time there was no curfew after an election.

I’m happy that the nation has understood our task and for the first time in the country’s history a new entrant has managed to almost become the third force of an election. We did all this in one month when the JVP took 30 odd years to become a dominant factor in the political arena.

A: We have no confidence in both main political parties — the UPFA and the UNF. Therefore, we would maintain an independent position. However, we would support any good proposal made by the government or the opposition. We won’t be a traditional opposition. When any party puts forward a proposal, we would analyse and decide whether to support it.

A: It is not peace that we have at present. Although it is not felt externally, the battle is still on internally. Although there’s a peace process and a ceasefire agreement, the LTTE has so far killed whom they want to.

The ceasefire agreement is not valid as only the government observes it, not the LTTE. We are completely against federalism, which is a formula to divide what is united. We don’t mind any solution in one country. So far, both main parties have put forward federalism and the JVP, which was first against it, is now maintaining total silence. However, we are completely against the concept.

A: We believe in distributing powers to villages. Even peace talks in the future should not be limited to the government in power and the LTTE, but all parties should be involved. The problem as we see it is the non-inclusion of all parties in the peace process. As a result, when one government takes over from another, they have to start the peace process from scratch. This would not happen if everyone is involved in the process from the beginning.

We would also support the peace process if, as we said, all parties are involved in the process. As for conditions to start the talks, before we think of them we have to get all the parties together.

A: No we don’t. That cannot be so as they are not the only party involved.

A: Local businessmen should be looked after. We would propose for the implementation of a commission for the country’s economy that would consist only of intelligent and educated people. The country’s economy today, mostly functions according to the whims and fancies of one person, the finance minister.

In some instances this minister is not qualified to hold the position, as he would have obtained the position through thuggery and violence. Then the minister functions under the guidance of the ministry secretary, as he could be more qualified than the minister himself. There have been instances where institutions have been sold off by ministers because the minister or in some cases his secretary felt it was the right thing to do.

We propose a committee of five members where the minister would be one member and the rest would be educated and intelligent people who would guide him. The minister under these circumstances cannot make a decision alone, as the approval of all five members would be needed to pass any proposal.

As for the agriculture sector, we would not totally discourage imports, but we would give priority to locally manufactured products. We also feel that there should be no political interference with the armed forces and the police.

A: It is well known that the JVP during the 2004 election campaign violated many election laws. Although they have spoken of a free media, they have been the very ones to abuse it. The incident regarding the late Ven. Gangodawila Soma Thero’s mother is one. When she went to President’s House some time back and requested the President to find her son’s assassins, the state media reported on election’s eve that she visited the President to tell her of the monks using the late thero’s popularity to gain votes.

Be that as it may, if the JVP puts forward a proposal that would benefit the country on the whole, we would forget our differences and support it. Then we would support our enemy.