DATE= 10/08/00
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
NUMBER=5-47128
TITLE=SRI LANKA ELECTION SCENESETTER
BYLINE=JIM TEEPLE
DATELINE=COLOMBO
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Voters in Sri Lanka go to the polls Tuesday to choose a new
Parliament. The island nation's President called the elections in hopes of gaining
support for a proposal to draft a new constitution that would give minorities more power
to govern themselves. V-O-As Jim Teeple reports from Colombo supporters
of the new constitution describe it as the best way to end Sri Lankas civil war, while opponents
contend it will only cause more division in an already divided land.
TEXT: // ACTUALITY OF MUSIC AND PEOPLE SINGING @ A POLITICAL RALLY.EST
AND FADE UNDER TEXT //
TEXT: Supporters of President Chandrika Kumaratungas Peoples Alliance
are in a boisterous mood these days. They say they will prevail in
Tuesdays vote when Sri Lankas 12-million eligible voters go to the
polls to choose a new parliament. More than five thousand candidates
are running for just 225 seats.
///opt/// It is a complicated process, which
includes a mix of direct voting and seats allocated to parties based on
the number of votes they receive over-all, at the national level.///end opt
The contest is largely between Mrs. Kumaratungas Peoples Alliance and
the United National Party of Ranil Wickremesinghe, who lost the
presidency to Chandrika Kumaratunga last December. Since then, in a
series of seemingly endless parliamentary discussions, lawmakers have
debated Chandrika Kumaratungas plan for a new constitution that would
give more autonomy to Sri Lankas regions including Tamil majority
areas in the north and east of the country where Tamil separatists have
been fighting for an independent state since 1983. The plan is opposed
by many including much of the countrys influential Buddhist clergy
who say it will lead to the end of Sri Lanka as a unitary state.
By August it had become clear that Chandrika Kumaratunga would not get
the necessary two-thirds majority in parliament she needed for a new
constitution, and so she dissolved parliament and called for new
elections. Speaking to reporters just days before the vote Sri Lankas
President says the stakes could not be higher.
/// KUMARATUNGA ACTUALITY ///
I would say that I think it is certainly the last serious and possibly
successful chance for peace in this country.
/// END ACTUALITY ///
At the heart of Tuesdays vote is the question of how best to try and
bring an end to Sri Lankas civil war, which has cost the lives of more
than 60-thousand people. Chandrika Kumaratunga says the best way is to
continue to prosecute the war but at the same time offer Tamil areas a
measure of autonomy short of outright independence. For his part Ranil
Wickremesinghe says he favors an immediate cease-fire, and then talks
with the Tamil Tiger rebels, known formally as the Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam -- before any constitutional changes are decided.
The vote is too close to call. It is complicated by other questions
such as widespread dissatisfaction over the governments economic
policies. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu is an influential Tamil lawyer and
political analyst at the Center for Policy Research and Analysis in
Colombo. He says there is really little that divides the two main
parties contesting Tuesdays vote except the two main candidates strong
dislike of one another.
/// SARAVANAMUTTU ACTUALITY ///
The thing with Ranil and Chandrika and let us be frank about this is
that both the U-N-P and the P-A (Peoples Alliance) openly acknowledge
that there have to be talks with the LTTE. There has to be talks and
there has to be third party assistance. On the issues of the war, peace
and the economy there is no real substantive difference between these
two parties. If there is a difference it is a difference of modalities,
of process or a difference of degree. So it is a non-ideological
difference between them really at the end of the day. What is
preventing them from doing anything is that they just dislike each other
intensely and do not trust each other.
/// END ACTUALITY ///
That distrust and dislike has been all too evident in the past few days
with Chandrika Kumaratunga saying she would refuse to work with Ranil
Wickremesinghe under any circumstances even if he wins a majority
in parliament and becomes Prime Minister. Sri Lankas President also
says if she cannot get a two-thirds majority from a new parliament she
will simply convert the new chamber into a constituent assembly and pass
her reforms with a simple majority.
As they head to the polls on Tuesday, dodging threats of violence by the
Tamil Tigers and threats of voter intimidation that international
observers say have been increasing from both sides in recent days,
Sri Lankas voters face an uncertain future. A vote that was
supposed to offer a war weary population a chance for peace now
appears to be leading towards a constitutional crisis. (Signed)
NEB/JLT/PFH
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