MR-Govt thugs have engaged in harassment, including assault & damaging election offices right from the beginning.! They were led by members of TH..!!!

Forget two-thirds, Govt cannot poll even 50 percent of votes

– Mangala by Dasun Edirisinghe

Former Matara District SLFP leader, Mangala Samaraweera is contesting the General Election this time on the United National Front ticket as the UNF team leader for the same district. Samaraweera, the leader of the SLFP Mahajana Wing, who entered Parliament in 1989, has represented Matara District since then.

He was the youngest member of the Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga government in 1994 and held several key ministerial portfolios, including Posts and Telecommunication, Media, Ports, Shipping and Civil Aviation and Foreign Affairs.

Samaraweera was one of chief architects of the United People’s Freedom Alliance which was formed in 2004 and he played a pivotal role in electing incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2005.

In this interview, the senior politician speaks to ‘The Island’ on the eve of the April 08 General Election.


Q. As the SLFP Matara District leader you obtained over 100,000 preferential votes at the 2004 general election and topped the UPFA list. That could have been because you were very popular among SLFPers and partly due to the development work in the district. But this time around you are contesting under the UNF banner. Do you think UNPers would vote for you at the election?

A. I never work for preferential votes. That’s not the primary target of my campaign. I always work to obtain votes for the party. I am working as the UNF team leader and my aim is to increase the number of votes cast for the party.

I printed a poster, including all candidates of the UNF list in the Matara District and pasted them especially in our election offices. I invited all UNF candidates in the district for my rallies and pocket meetings. We are holding around 20 meeting daily between 9.00am and 12 mid night. All candidates are present at these meetings. So, we are targeting the party’s victory by obtaining more seats in Parliament.

However, in my maiden election in 1989, I obtained 11,000 preferential votes and was the second in the winning list. After that my preferential votes increased at every election and finally I obtained 118,000 preferential votes at the General Election in 2004. But most of candidates lost their votes at the second election.


Q. But, some sections of the media reported that you, Matara District UNP leader Sagala Ratnayake and the Opposition Leader of the Southern Provincial Council Buddhika Pathirana are in a battle for preferential votes. Is it true?

A. I strongly deny it. We are campaigning as a single team. We have no differences over preferential votes. We all address the same meetings. These are rumours being spread by the government to mislead our supporters and in order to deny us victory in the Matara District.


Q. The UPFA’s slogan in the election campaign is to obtain a two–thirds majority. They say there is no opposition campaign and that it has become a bankrupt party now. What is your response?

A. The UPFA is asking for a two–thirds majority. But the ground situation is that they can’t obtain even 50 per cent of the vote. They ask people to vote for a two-thirds majority for constitutional change and development of the country after the war. But the truth is they want a two-thirds majority to continue with the Rajapaksa dynasty. They want to change the constitution so that the Executive President could continue in office for more than two terms.

There is no need for a two–thirds majority to implement positive constitutional changes. The opposition MPs would vote for bills which are good for the country. If the government introduces a bill to abolish the executive presidency, the UNP, JVP, TNA and other parties would vote for it.

A salient factor is that it is very difficult to obtain a two–thirds majority due to the system that is in place (Proportional Representation).

The third thing is that the government cannot rig this election. We will not permit it. We have prepared a special programme to protect the counting and voting centres. However, it is difficult to rig a general election because of the preferential votes.


Q. You were one of the key politicians of the grand opposition alliance formed to defeat President Rajapaksa at the Jan. 26 Presidential Election. But President Rajapaksa won the election by a majority of 1.8 million votes. The other thing is Gen. Sarath Fonseka is contesting the general election under a new alliance. How will these factors would affect the forthcoming election?

A. No. It was not a real victory. Our alliance was not defeated at the Presidential Election. President Rajapaksa rigged it.

However, we held several discussion to contest the General Election under the New Democratic Front and under the Swan symbol. UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and JVP leaders too tried to contest the General Election under the former alliance that was created for the Presidential Election. We held a discussion at Gen. Fonseka’s office the day he was arrested. Finally, we came to a decision to contest under the Swan symbol in the Matara and Kalutara Districts. But it proved unsuccessful due to practical problems.

Those who will be elected to Parliament under the ‘Trophy’ symbol will extend their support to us to form a government. We are expecting to form a government even with a one seat majority.

Matara was the seat that had been lost by Gen. Fonseka with the lowest percentage at the Presidential Election. This time I’m sure the UNF will win the Matara seat with higher percentage.


Q. You are always complaining of harassment by the Rajapaksa administration. This time too, are you affected?

A. Yes. State sponsored violence against the opposition has not ceased. I have lodged over 30 complaints at the Matara police station since nomination date. But the Police have done nothing regarding the complaints. Finally, I filed a fundamental rights case in the Supreme Court against it. However, government thugs assaulted our supporters on Friday and Saturday morning.

Government thugs have engaged in harassment, including assault and damaging election offices right from the beginning. They were led by members of the Tharunyata Hetak Organization and a Provincial Council member of the Matara District who is also a relative of President Rajapaksa. Thereafter, they had moved to the Gampaha and Hambantota Districts for Basil Rajapaksa’s and Namal Rajapaksa’s campaigns and have come back to Matara again.


Q. You lead the Matara District UNF list. You said the UNF campaign is very successful. But one of your candidates, UNP organizer for Hakmana electorate, Attorney– at–Law Indika Jatunga crossed over to the government at a recent meeting held at the Sanath Jayasuriya grounds with his supporters. Why are they crossing over if your campaign is strong?

A. This is nothing new. He was silent from the date of nominations were handed over. As the UNF team leader, I met him only once after handing over nominations. However, even if he crossed over, his supporters did not do so. We are still in a strong position.


Q. How many candidates have you fielded from the Sri Lanka Freedom Party – Mahajana Wing and do you believe they could secure their slot at the election?

A. We are fielding candidates in five Districts, including Matara, Kurunegala, Gampaha, Anuradhapura and Moneragala. But Moneragala District candidate Tissakuttiarachchi has been removed from the list. Gampaha District candidate Dilrukshi Sooriyarachchi, the wife of the late Sripathy, extended her support to the government without informing us. We read about it in the newspapers. Our other candidates are in a strong position in their districts and victory is assured.



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