Chamal R. indicates Nov. date for forthcoming presidential
or parliamentary poll

With the army now poised to finish off what is left of the Tigers’ conventional fighting capability, the ruling UPFA government is likely to call for a presidential election later this year.

SLFP strategists are of the opinion that an early presidential poll ahead of parliamentary polls would be advantageous to the coalition. According to the election map, the parliamentary elections should have preceded the presidential election.

Ministerial sources told The Island that the election was likely in November. The last presidential poll was held in November, 2005.

Sources said that it would be the first countrywide election in many decades held without any territory under LTTE control.

Ports and Aviation Minister Chamal Rajapaksa recently indicated that either a presidential or parliamentary election was expected as early as November. Addressing a public gathering, President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s elder brother said that once the government had bagged the remaining provincial councils it would call early elections in November.

Sources said that the Uva and Southern PCs were likely to be dissolved in June or July. Government sources asserted that the UNP would find it extremely difficult to agree on a candidate to face the incumbent President against the backdrop of heavy PC polls defeats. The sources said that there would be a damaging squabble over Wickremesinghe’s candidature who had lost two previous presidential elections and that would further demoralise the opposition.

Sources said that the JVP had no option but to field a candidate as the government wasn’t likely even to consider inviting the JVP back to its fold. The Marxist party, which had rejected several calls to join the government, would face a major crisis, the sources said.

The JVP spearheaded the then Premier Rajapaksa’s previous presidential election campaign.

Sources said that an added advantage was that the President would receive UPFA constituents’ unwavering support. The bottom line was that no constituent could even discuss the possibility of supporting the UNP without jeopardising its relationship with the government.