No elections for next five years, says President Kumaratunga

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 January 2005, 07:06 GMT]
Stirring yet another political calamity in the South, Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Kumaratunga, has said in Hambantota on Wednesday that there would be no elections for the next five years and therefore all political forces should sink their party differences and work towards rebuilding the tsunami-devastated country. President Kumaratunga has made these remarks on Wednesday while addressing the gathering after ceremonially launching the post-tsunami rebuilding plan in Kajuwatta in the Southern Hambantota district.

The launching of the Kajuwatta township reconstruction program was the first among 15 such township rebuilding plan of her Freedom Alliance government in the Southern and Eastern coastal lines of the country.

According to Colombo-based Daily Mirror newspaper, stressing that the country would not face any elections for the next five years, President Kumaratunga has said even if an election was held tomorrow, the votes should be marked before the country symbol, shedding away all political and party differences for the betterment of the country.

The President's remarks with regard to holding elections have come at a time when the main Opposition United National Party (UNP), led by former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, is maintaining the fact that her term of office terminates by this November, although the President had said her second term in office would end only in December 2006.

Even though the President was calling for a national unity in common adversity, she did not forget to slam her political allies and enemies despite the fact members of those political parties, like JVP Propaganda Secretary, Wimal Weerawansa and UNP parliamentarian and son of former President R. Premadasa, were among those in the same stage to discharge their support to her so-called effort of "rebuilding the nation".

Making remarks to the effect that it (tsunami) was the nature's way of sending a message to all Sri Lankans for their inability to work together, she said the tsunami disaster in that context was something that could have been basically asked for.

She has said that tsunami was justifiable because of the infighting within the country both in the North as well as in the South. The President justified that nature would have thought of hitting back and taking everything back because the people have been fighting among themselves without making use of the gifted natural resources as a result.

There was no official reaction from the UNP in this regard so far.