Downfall Of Rajapaksa Regime Is In Hands Of Oppositions Alliance

By Muheed Jeeran -April 3, 2014

Muheed Jeeran

Finally the two provincial council elections are over! Winning candidates are celebrating their election victory and some political parties are celebrating the increase in their voter base.

UPFA leaders are stating that the people are with them and they have sent a clear message to the opposition and international community again. However, I am sure UPFA leader Mahinda Rajapaksa is a worried man, after reading the recently concluded election results.  He knows he won the election with a landslide, but the results are showing that his power-base is gradually decreasing. It is clear that he has lost his war victory slogan which is the main trump card he had for the past five years to bamboozle the opposition parties in past elections.

The ruling regime campaigned heavily by highlighting the UNHRC resolution as the major subject in their election campaign and urged people to vote for them to send a clear signal to the International Community. But clearly, the majority of voters ignored that plea and don’t give a damn for this regime. Clearly the voters instead of sending a strong message to the world, sent a crystal clear message to Rajapaksa and his regime about the rising cost of living and other national issues he has failed to resolved.

After analysing the final results of the two recently concluded  provincial councils election, almost 34% of the registered voters abstained from voting. Of these 34% absentee voters, which is equivalent to nearly two million votes, there are voters who might be working as expatriates in foreign countries which I assume is not more than 15%.

Nowadays fraudulent voter registration is not that easy. In past decades,  fraudulent voter registration was practiced by extreme supporters of the political parties. However, recent policies by the Elections Commission to deter that type of fraud is very successful. Therefore it is clear that at least 20% of the registered voters have refrained from voting.

Some citizens who refrained from voting have lost their faith in this regime and also they see that there is no strong opposition. On the other hand, some  are not interested in voting as they think this is a local election and not very important to them. They have reasons to stay away. But, it’s important to know that the majority have ignored Rajapaksa’s plea based, on his so called “Electric Chair” theory.

As we know, only 34% of the registered voters have cast their ballot in favour of the ruling UPFA party.  Also the president failed to maintain his popularity when compared with the last Western and Southern provincial council elections back in 2009. The last Western Provincial Council election held just one month before the war ended and the Southern Province election was held five months after the war victory. Definitely, he was riding on a high at the time and delivered excellent results in those two elections. So clearly these recent election results have given him more worries than the joy of celebration!                                            Read More