The recently held Provincial Council elections did not bring good news for the JVP and ex JVP strongman and the Chairman of the National Freedom Front (NFF.)
Wimal Weerawansa thinks he knows what went wrong…

Q: What is your analysis of the recently held Provincial Council elections?
A: Although it was a Provincial Council election, the topics that were highlighted in the campaign were national level issues. The Government as well as the opposition parties paid a lot of attention to issues like the war, the rising cost of living and inflation, issues that really do not have much connection with the activities of the Provincial Councils. And the people took their decision based on these issues.

Although the UPFA won by a considerable margin, that does not mean that the people approve all the government policies. The economy is in a mess, the rising cost of living is unbearable, and the jumbo cabinet is irritating. But despite all this the people of the two provinces have given the Government a mandate and the Government is claiming that this shows the peoples’ approval of their policies.

But if we look at the election propaganda campaign, the Government focussed on the war effort while the UNP and the JVP focussed on the economy. The people have only one vote and they have decided to support the war effort. So the mandate the UPFA got was a mandate given in favour of the war effort, although they are sick of the other actions of the Government.

Q: Although the UNP and the JVP put so much effort into the election, both parties under performed?
A: In a way the UNP had several advantages going for the election. The present UPFA Government is four years old and the people are suffering because of the economic problems. On top of that they used two popular figures as their Chief Ministerial candidates, but with all this they have received fewer votes than they did in 2005 Presidential elections.

Many claim that Ranil Wickremesinghe is an unpopular leader but he has fared better than these “popular” figures. There is news that another set of UNP ‘dissidents” want to change the leadership, but in my opinion changing leaders will not be the solution. The UNP’s stance on many issues is anti patriotic and openly imperialistic. If they do not change that stance, they won’t be able to win even if they appoint king Dutugemunu or Shah Ruk Khan as candidates.

But what saddens me is the plight of the JVP. In 2006 local council elections the JVP got more than 150 000 votes from these four districts, but this time they have only got less than 50 000 votes. The reason behind this is the series of strategic errors made by the JVP leadership from 2006 to 2008.

Q: Many say that it was the internal division of the party that led to this situation?
A: I’m not that arrogant to say that it was “only” our departure that lead to this. But as I said the JVP leadership made strategic errors from 2006, we had to leave the party because of this and the people have shown that they do not approve of these policies. Two thirds of the people who voted JVP in 2006 have not voted for us this time.

The present JVP central committee has no understanding of the peoples’ thoughts and sentiments. The leadership has given the banner of patriotism to the President, and now the JVP only has the red flag. Whenever the JVP went in this direction they had ended up with destruction.

The JVP central committee is full of fundamentalists who are mechanical in thought and action. They have no understanding of the peoples’ sentiments and thus cannot come up with strategies that would win the hearts and minds of the voter. The grassroot JVP members should understand what is happening, and they should take action to stop the gradual destruction of the party.

Q: You have stated that you are ready to work with the JVP again under a new leadership?
A: I did not say that I will join the JVP again. What I said was the NFF is ready to work with the JVP on common issues if the party appoints a new leadership. I think that there are individuals within the party that can do a much better job than the present central committee. Many of these patriotic second ring leaders have approached us and have declared their willingness to join us. But we have always asked them to stay back and fight to make a change within the party.
The NFF has no intention of hurting the JVP. If we wanted to pull their leg we could have gone to the North Central Province and Sabaragamuwa and worked against the JVP, but we did not.

Q: You said that the people have chosen the military effort over other issues. If that is the case, does the NFF have any role to play in the present political arena?
A: Of course, the people of the country know that the NFF is taking the right path when it comes to the military effort. They also know that we also represent good governance and democracy.
I call terrorism the major problem prevalent in the country because until terrorism exists we will always take decisions reacting to what the terrorists do, and what a government is doing to combat these terrorist acts.
Because this issue is so pressing, we really can’t focus on other issues like corruption, education, healthcare or human rights. No matter what we say people will always give first priority to war, and that is natural. That’s why I said we have to end this war if we are to have a true political dialogue in the country.

Q: The JVP leader signed a petition along with Ranil Wickremesinghe and R. Sampanthan against the attacks on media personnel, but NFF strongman Nandana Gunathilake claimed that it was a mistake?
A: We are not supporting any attacks on media. But the thing is, working with Ranil and Sampanthan is bad strategy. The JVP always believed in working on its own and finding solutions using their own strength.
When people see the JVP leader signing statements along with the UNP and TNA leaders, they assume that we are on the same league and those two leaders are associated with international forces. Although fighting for media freedom is a good cause the JVP should do it in the correct manner. (RK)

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