Lanka peace talks key issue as postal vote begins
Colombo, Mar 20: Government officials and soldiers began posting ballots today (Mar 20, 2006) for Sri Lanka's March 30 local elections, with the island's peace process a central issue but no decision yet on whether residents in rebel areas can vote.
More than 200,000 government officials and soldiers are allowed to send in ballots early for village, district and municipal council elections across the country so they will not be disrupted from their duties on election day.
Both President Mahinda Rajapakse's Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the opposition United National Party (UNP) began campaigning in earnest over the weekend, but some political analysts say the vote will be flavoured by government peace talks with the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
''Local government is not very significant in the lives of people in Sri Lanka because everything is very centralised,'' said Rohan Edrisinha, analyst at Colombo's Centre for Policy Alternatives.
''But in terms of overall politics it may be very significant, particularly in terms of relations between Rajapakse and the JVP.'' The Marxist JVP backed Rajapakse at a November presidential election and have backed him in parliament, but some analysts say his reliance on them has restricted his government's flexibility in negotiating with the rebels.
The Tigers, widely blamed for a string of attacks on troops in December and January that pushed the island to a brink of war, are scheduled to meet Rajapakse's government for a second round of peace talks this year in Switzerland in April.
Since the last round of talks in February, the first high level meeting since 2003, government officials have repeatedly said they will not honour a Tiger demand that they disarm renegade ex-rebels now said to be army-backed.
The rebels warn that fighting, which has already killed over 64,000 people, could resume unless they win concessions.
The JVP and the Buddhist monk party JHU loathe the Tigers, want a 2002 ceasefire amended so it is tougher on the rebels and oppose any concessions.
Analysts say many people in the majority Sinhalese south will vote as much over dissatisfaction over basic services such as garbage disposal as over the peace process, while in the minority Tamil north and east, where the Tigers run a de facto state, it is unclear if they will vote at all.
The elections commissioner has yet to announce whether he will allow polling stations in Tiger-held areas. Officials say the law requires two police to escort each ballot box, but under the ceasefire, police or soldiers cannot enter rebel territory.
If rebel-area voting is allowed, the Tigers' political proxies, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), could do well, although the TNA has said it wants the polls delayed because of what it says is government backed violence.
Reuters