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| Tuesday, 6 April 2004 |
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Politics | |
| News Business Features Editorial Security Politics World Letters Sports Obituaries
| Freedom Alliance makes clean sweep As the dust settled on the April 2 General Election, the United People's Freedom Alliance clearly emerged as the victor. It swept the board gaining control over 130 electorates to occupy the Government Benches in the 13th Parliament scheduled to meet on April 22. If the elections were held on the first past the post system, the Freedom Alliance would have exceeded a two-thirds majority in the new Parliament. This was prevented under the Proportional Representation system adopted by the Constitution of former UNP President J. R. Jayewardene in 1978. The Freedom Alliance as a single party won 105 seats in Parliament pushing the UNP to 82 that included seats from the National List. Statistics indicate that if the poll was conducted under the earlier system, the UNP would have faced a humiliating defeat electoralwise as it happened to them at the first presidential election of President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga in 1994 where the UNP won only a solitary seat at Mahiyangana. Top UNP ministers who boasted of a resounding victory on April 2 were drowned when the results were announced as almost all of them lost their electorates. In addition UNP stalwarts like Ravi Karunanayake, Mahinda Samarasinghe, Karunasena Kodituwakku, Bandula Gunawardena, Gamini Lokuge, Karu Jayasuriya, Johnston Fernando, Jayalath Jayewardena, Rukman Senanayake, Ananda Kularatne and Sajith Premadasa lost their base electorates. Coalition partners of the former UNF regime, Rauff Hakeem and Arumugam Thondaman of the CWC and the SLMC helped the UNF to secure at least nine seats. Otherwise the UNP alone would have suffered more at the hands of the Freedom Alliance. Latest reports indicate that SLMC and CWC leaders are having talks with Freedom Alliance leaders with a view to extending their support to the new Government. |
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