UNP serendipity
PROVINCIAL Council elections took place at the end of May. The governing United National Party (UNP) won comfortably. The campaign was peaceful despite the atmosphere of violence that dominated following the assassinations of opposition leader, Lalith Athulathmudali, and President Ranasinghe Premadasa. Below, we publish a short report that outlines the central features of the campaign, the parties involved and the reasons for the UNP victory. VICKRAMABAHU KARUNARATNE * — Colombo, May 20, 1993 madasa and the new President is talking of reducing Presidential powers. In this situation it is quite natural that the broad masses conclude that it is necessary to test out the policy of the new President.
So, the UNP were victorious, particularly in rural and plantation areas. Nonetheless, it is in the plantation sector that a strong tendency has developed towards the left. Chandrasekharan, the Tamil plantation leader, under detention as a terrorist suspect, was elected as an independent. But the fact that the UNP won when they were quite incapable of any intimidation or electoral malpractice, shows that the rural masses and the plantation workers still keep faith in the government. Police and state officials were fair and in many places went out of their way to prove this point. Only the opportunist opposition leaders, who are unable to explain their defeat, come out with complaints of malpractice.
The PA, the coalition between the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the opportunist left, emerged as the hope of the working masses.2 It was supported by the DUNF. Together, they dominate three provincial councils; the southern, western and north western. These provinces contain a good 90% of the Sinhala working class. These workers will press for reforms and welfare expecting the PA/DUNF leaderships to help them out. In particular, workers will expect measures against police brutality and police intervention in workplace disputes.
We can expect a period of class unrest but it will be based on illusions in coalition politics. The PA has already become a radical movement in the eyes of the masses, with the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) and the Communist Party winning important positions within the coalition. Where left leaders were elected they won with a substantial number of preferential votes, further compounding the illusions of the working class in coalitionism. Anura Bandaranaike, the central leader of the SLFP, and her adjuncts were undoubtedly discredited in the eyes of the workers as those who undercut the cam-
* Vickramabahu Karunaratne is a leader of the Nava Sama Samaja Party (NSSP), Sri Lankan section of the Fourth International.
1. For details of the NSSP's campaign see International Viewpoint, No. 245, May 1993.
2. The People's Alliance coalition also included the Lanka Sama Samaja Party and the Communist Party.
T is still not clear who or what forces were behind these killings. The security forces have claimed that they were the work of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). But there are too many things that need explanation, particularly in the case of Lalith's assassination. Nobody believes that this murder was done without the connivance of government forces.
However, Premadasa's assassination may have been carried out by a Tamil terrorist group. But the question of whether some government politician is involved in the conspiracy remains unanswered. In any event both murders were very helpful to the governing party, the United National Party (UNP). They managed to shed their unpopular autocratic face, while also removing the smiling populist image of Lalith's Democratic United National Front (DUNF).
D.B. Wijetunga, the new President, hails from a peasant family in the Kandgan province. He is reputed to be a simple peasant farmer who still looks after his cattleshed and garden. This image struck a sympathetic chord with many. The bourgeois opposition, the DUNF and the Podujana Jana Peramuna (Peoples Alliance - PA), were claiming before Premadasa's death that all bad things were due to his personal behaviour. They were very annoyed with the Nava Sama Samaja Party (NSSP) for raising political questions that went beyond Premadasa and the establishment of a non-Presidential constitution.! Now a terrorist has removed Pre-
D.B. Wijetunga
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International Viewpoint #246 June 1993
paign. But it is very unlikely that Anura's leadership will be challenged.
UNP economic policy has antagonised workers while pauperising the peasantry. We cannot then, attribute their rural support to the success of their poverty alleviation programme. The rural masses are in a very difficult situation. They consider a vote against the UNP as a very serious step that might bring bad repercussions. A vibrant opposition movement is necessary to pull these layers away from this defeatist mentality. Although the PA coalition is accepted by a majority of workers it has not penetrated the rural masses to the same extent. The DUNF has support amongst the new rich middle classes in the rural areas. Elsewhere, they have managed to draw upon the support of urban working class elements.
The NSSP, with nine other radical organisations, contested all 17 districts. It was a successful campaign, reaching millions in the southern areas. In particular, we explained the right of self-determination of the Tamil people to the Sinhala masses. One comrade was elected and the Party's overall vote was 59,514. However, we have had to accept that militant workers have abandoned us for the PA. The opportunist opposition leaders were successful with their vicious campaign to isolate us from the rank and file.
They kept on slinging mud, even claiming that we are paid by the UNP regime to break up and divide the opposition. They compared us with Ossie Abeygoonasekara, the infamous left Presidential candidate who walked over to the the UNP.3 Not only were we isolated from the workers, but also from the youth.
The influence of the Janatha Vimukti Peramuna (JVP - Peoples Liberation Front) was clearly evident when workers abstained or spoiled their votes deliberately.4 This reached 10% in areas where JVP activity was high during 1988/89 disturbances. This certainly indicates the distrust of radical youth towards the parliamentary electoral process but racism is also a feature. Provincial Councils are considered by Sinhala chauvinists as a gift to the minorities. Though there was no campaign for a boycott all Sinhala chauvinist groups, including the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP — People's United Front), supported one. *
3. Ossie Abeygoonasekara and his Sri Lanka Mahajana Party were a part of the the United Socialist Alliance that was formed in 1988 and included the Communist Party, LSSP and the NSSP.
4. The Sinhala terrorist group were effectively wiped out by army action in southern areas in late 1989 and early 1990