{"id":56736,"date":"2017-12-09T01:20:56","date_gmt":"2017-12-09T06:20:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=56736"},"modified":"2017-12-09T01:20:56","modified_gmt":"2017-12-09T06:20:56","slug":"undivided-unp-has-clear-advantage-in-facing-local-authority-polls-due-to-the-divided-slfp-being-fragmented-between-the-government-and-jint-opposition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=56736","title":{"rendered":"Undivided UNP Has Clear Advantage In Facing Local Authority Polls due to the Divided SLFP Being Fragmented Between the Government and Jint Opposition."},"content":{"rendered":"

By<\/p>\n

Lucien Rajakarunanayake<\/strong><\/p>\n

With the long delayed elections to Local Government bodies due in the latter half of next February, Election Politics are gathering momentum. Although the polls are for local bodies, covering of all local bodies in the country, and being the first widespread electoral exercise after the major political changes in 2015, with clear political rivalry between the pro-Rajapaksa forces and those who defeated them more than two years ago, the coming polls are being looked at by contending parties almost as a national poll on governance.<\/p>\n

The failure of attempts by rival factions of the SLFP \u2013 those in government and in the Joint Opposition (JO) \u2013 to come to an understanding on unity, or even a no-contest agreement, shows a major disadvantage to the official SLFP led by President Maithripala Sirisena, with efforts to underscore his leadership in the SLFP. This division has certainly given strength to the pro-Rajapaksa group of the SLFP, but the efforts by Mahinda Rajapaksa himself to bring about a measure of unity between the two party factions, does show that the prevailing disunity among the Blue ranks would not be very beneficial to that group either.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It is the UNP that has clearly benefited from this continuing division in the SLFP, being able to stand out as an undivided party, with the unquestioned leadership of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. The UNP, which provided the majority of votes for the Common Candidate Maithripala Sirisena in the Presidential Poll on January 08, 2015, and obtained a majority in the general election in August 2105, moves to this local government poll as the clear leader in the field, as an undivided party. It also has the advantage of its leader being able to campaign with strength and confidence, with his party having the more influential ministerial portfolios, being more assured of the votes of minority voters, in areas where Tamil, Muslim and Christian minorities will have an impact on the poll.<\/p>\n

While the JO, which will contest from the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), the lotus bud party organized by Basil Rajapaksa and politically led by Mahinda Rajapaksa, has good cause to expect success in the coming polls; the divisions within the SLFP can be a major disadvantage to its campaign. Although SLPP \u2013 JO has the members of the UPFA who are not with the Sirisena faction of the SLFP, and goes to these polls showing a majority SLFP membership, it must face the reality that this the first time in any major election that the SLFP is contesting as a divided party. It is far bigger than the division of the late Anura Bandaranaike and Maithripala Senanayake, when they broke away from the SLFP, and supported UNP. The SLPP goes to the polls with blue and red flags, but with the formal leader of the blue party \u2013 the President of the country, as a clear rival although not running any candidates in the polls.<\/p>\n

Party discipline?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The SLPP \u2013 JO would also have to consider the danger of disciplinary action by the official SLFP against its members who campaign or contest an election, where they oppose the SLFP, even though the party is not in the field. The SLFP could take a decision that disciplinary action would be taken against those who contest from the SLPP, which it sees as a party opposed to the SLFP. Statements to this effect have been made by members of the pro-Maithripala Sirisena SLFP wing. It is an interesting twist to the politics of rivalry, the key factor in the coming polls.<\/p>\n

However, the impact of any such move will have to be seen in the context of how the Sirisena SLFP has so far acted with regard to disciplinary action against members breaking party discipline. SLFP members who participated in two May Day rallies, led by Mahinda Rajapaksa, which were opposed to SLFP rallies led by President Sirisena, had no such action. Also, there was no disciplinary action against SLFP members who participated in the Hyde Park anti-government rally last year.<\/p>\n

The issue of disciplinary action has been an unreality in the SLFP from the time of the change of leadership from Rajapaksa to Sirisena. Verbal warnings have been given, there was no action taken, possibly with expectations of future settlements. The issue today is that there are fewer opportunities for future settlements, if the SLPP, with the JO, and the Mahinda Rajapaksa leadership, performs well, not necessarily as first, in the coming local polls.<\/p>\n

These divisions in the politics of the SLFP certainly give a major green light to the Green Party and the leadership of Ranil Wickremesinghe, with the message of being the party that will lead the country beyond to 2020. But, it will also have to face up to the reality of the increasing unpopularity of the Unity Government and Yahapalanaya policies. The UNP will also have to face the issue of corruption that has emerged with the Treasury Bond issue, the report of the Presidential Commission now due by December 31, very much in the Local Polls campaign. If it is to draw the maximum support of those who backed it in January and August 2018, the UNP will have to show an understanding of the political situation of President Sirisena, and organise its campaign to get the anti-Rajapaksa SLFP voters to back the Elephant symbol, and keep the vote it obtained in January 2018, as the party of leadership
\n
\nCourtesy:Daily News<\/em><\/p>\n

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By Lucien Rajakarunanayake With the long delayed elections to Local Government bodies due in the latter half of next February, Election Politics are gathering momentum. Although the polls are for local bodies, covering of all local bodies in the country, and being the first widespread electoral exercise after the major political changes in 2015, with …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Undivided UNP Has Clear Advantage In Facing Local Authority Polls due to the Divided SLFP Being Fragmented Between the Government and Jint Opposition.’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56736"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=56736"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56736\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56737,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56736\/revisions\/56737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=56736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=56736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=56736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}