Political opportunism is the only cogent reason that could be adduced for the dissolution of the provincial councils of the North Central and Sabaragamuwa provinces by President Mahinda Rajapakse. These councils had one more year to go before their terms ended but with the JVP declaring its parting of ways with the ruling party the Rajapakse regime has seized the opportunity of dissolving the two councils.

The excuse given is that the ruling alliance lacks a majority with the JVP pulling out its support making the smooth functioning of the councils impossible which in reality is a far cry from the truth. Neither the JVP nor the UNP had threatened to stall the working of these councils because dissolution and holding of elections on a staggered basis were not in their interest and the members representing these parties in the two councils went so far as to inform the two Governors in writing that they will not move to defeat the administration. The question of the ruling alliance losing its majority in the two councils to govern therefore did not arise. But the ruling clique probably thought that it would be advantageous to go to the polls with the euphoria bordering hysteria over the ‘victory’ in the Eastern Provincial Council election and distract the people from the spiraling economic crisis confronting the nation.

‘Victory’ in the East is indeed questionable because it was achieved by a group of former terrorists of the LTTE leading the ruling government party, the UPFA. They were an armed group and had armed terrorist camps within the electorate. Appeals made by the UNP and SLMC to the Elections Commissioner to have these camps removed and armed cadres disarmed fell on deaf ears. The armed group the TMVP refused to surrender their arms and carried on their election campaign and won the election. President Mahinda Rajapakse now declares to the world that he re-established democracy in the East. If it can be called a democracy it is indeed a rare form of democracy— a gun toting democracy.

Strike while the iron is hot appears to be the thinking of the ruling clique. And the leader of the TMVP Pillayan appears to be setting the trend for future election campaigns of the ruling party. The outburst of violence against peaceful protests by the UNP, SLMC and JVP during the last two weeks appears to be an indicator of how democratic protests against the government will be dealt with. A peaceful protest by the UNP with blaring of horns and flashing of lights at a given hour in various parts of Colombo led to police harassing demonstrators and even abusing them even though an appeal to the courts to have this demonstration stopped was refused on the grounds that the people had the constitutional right of making such protests.

The JVP demonstrations in Chilaw on two days were attacked by government thugs while the police took no action. Attempts were made by pro government goons of a minister to prevent the SLMC leader Rauf Hakeem from attending two rallies held in Chilaw. Ranil Wickremesinghe the Leader of the Opposition and UNP was obstructed on his way from the airport to Colombo by pro- government goons and he was compelled to use alternate routes. Once again he was obstructed on his way to parliament by pro-government groups—a clear breach of parliamentary privilege. No action has been taken so far by the police for these blatant violations of law and order and no future action could be expected either going by the past performance of the police and government. Now the Chief Justice, Sarath N. Silva has gone on public record stating there is a conspiracy to oust him, signaling the complete breakdown of law and order in the country with the law of the jungle holding sway. It is in such an environment that provincial council elections are to be held with intellectual gymnasts like G.L. Pieris without a blush of shame justifying the move on the grounds of democracy. The very fact that Pieris has violated the very principles of democracy by distorting the mandate he received by decamping to the ruling alliance after being nominated to parliament on the national list of the UNP is lost sight of or for that matter having a general election to put democracy into real practice given the distorted peoples representation in Parliament today with those elected to Government sitting in Opposition and vice versa. That it seems is the brand of democracy the likes of Pieris want the people to invest in.

The independent as well as the state owned media too have come under severe pressure of the ruling clique. The abduction of Keith Noyahr the Associate Editor of the Nation newspaper and the brutal attack on him by armed thugs sent a chilling message to all media persons. The newspaper organisation appears to be in a dither with most journalists looking out for employment elsewhere. All the shares of the organisation have been bought by a person described as a pro government financial buccaneer in London. Another newspaper organisation which was fiercely independent under the regimes of J.R. Jayewardene, R. Premadasa and Chandrika Kumaratunga has now gone tame and so has an independent TV and radio organisation once closely aligned to the UNP. To the credit of Lake House some of its journalists have adopted a heroic stance against bulldozing by the Rajapakse clique and so has its main trade union organisation.

All these are ominous signs for democracy and the people as well as opposition parties should prepare to counter the fascist forces and defend democracy throwing caution to the winds.

While under normal circumstances holding elections to test public opinion should be welcomed, the people should query the need for hasty elections to these provincial councils when the country is faced with such severe and critical problems especially on the economic front. There in lies the rub. What benefit would result if the ruling party is returned to these councils if the opposition parties take over? Provincial Councils though in theory can serve the people better by bringing government closer to the people have proved to be colossal white elephants that do little or no service to the people.

The former central administration did better in many ways. Despite these councils now having existed for almost 20 years what benefits have they brought to the people in the provinces? For example, the NCP and Sabaragamuwa are both severely affected by floods. But what have they done to protect these areas from being ravaged by floods? Have any flood protection schemes being launched? Recently the irrigation tanks in the NCP overflowed and destroyed thousands of acres of paddy. The farmers looked on helplessly as before the advent of their saviours in the provincial council. Some parts of Sabaragamuwa are now many feet under flood waters. Do we hear even plaintive cries of these councillors? But the cost of maintaining these councillors with all privileges—vehicles, fuel allowances and other facilities— have to be met by the poor in the provinces. The only difference is that instead of paying one bribe to an official or politician in the central government in former times now not only those in the central government but many panjandrums and councillors have to be satisfied.

The people are undergoing immense difficulties with a record increase in the cost of living. Any government with a conscience will attempt to curb unnecessary expenditure and divert them to alleviate the suffering of the people. But neither the president nor his ministers appear to have a conscience in this respect when their splurge of public expenditure is considered. Were the visits of President Rajapakse to the FAO Conference in Rome and the Commonwealth Conference in London of any use to the starving people? What tangible benefits accrued to this country? The irony is that while the Government is telling the suffering people to bear the economic burdens and restrain from asking for salary increments due to the economic crunch, it sees no problem in expending millions on provincial elections well before their due date, not to mention the millions more that will be spent on the campaign with the Government machinery deployed to the maximum.