UPFA General Secretary Susil Premjayantha yesterday said nothing could be as stupid as the Opposition attempt to depict Saturday’s Southern Provincial Council election results, as a sign of weakness on the part of the SLFP-led ruling coalition.

Education Minister Susil Premajayntha told The Island, the UNP had conveniently forgotten that it lost all 21 electorates in the Southern Province, including Galle which the UPFA lost at the last presidential elections in November, 2005. Responding to our queries, he said that the UNP had received 297,180 votes whereas the UPFA polled 804,071 and the JVP, a paltry 72,379. He said, those who predicted polls as the beginning of the end for the UPFA could not be unaware of the difference between the UPFA and the UNP was a staggering 506,891 votes.

The minister said that the basis of the opposition jubilation seemed to be relatively low voter turnout in President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Hambantota base. The UPFA had polled 192,961 votes, three times more than the UNP, he said, adding that though the JVP talked of a revival, the Marxists received only 31,374 votes. He dismissed the Opposition claim that the government had been rattled by the outcome of the SPC polls and would not call an early presidential election. He said that the government could comfortably bag presidential or parliamentary elections and there was absolutely no threat whatsoever from the Opposition.

Mr. Premajayantha said that Saturday’s postal vote result, too, proved the government’s rising popularity among the public servants. He said that the UPFA had received four times more than postal votes received by the UNP. "We received 22,095 postal votes whereas the UNP and JVP together polled just 7,045," he said. The Opposition seemed to totally blind to political reality. He emphasised that the government was in a very strong position to face any eventuality. After having secured all provincial councils, including the Eastern PC, the government could now call either parliamentary elections before next April or an early presidential elections.

After casting his vote at D. A. Rajapaksa Vidyalaya, Medamulana, President Mahinda Rajapaksa last Saturday told the press that some wanted the government to go for parliamentary elections. He said that he had two years left to face the presidential election but a final decision was yet to be taken.

Premajayantha said that no right thinking Sri Lankan could vote against the President after his political leadership ensured the armed forces’ triumph over the LTTE. Although the Opposition believed that the people could be deceived, he said, he was confident that the people would be grateful to the President for eradicating the LTTE.