Canvassing for the crucial northern vote

Come election time and the 13th Amendment to the Constitution becomes the favourite tool used by the country’s main political parties to lure Tamil voters.

Both the main opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) and the JVP-led National People’s Power (NPP) met with leaders of the Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) in Jaffna this week and the 13th Amendment figured in the talks.

During his meeting with the ITAK representatives, SJB leader Sajith Premadasa assured them of the full implementation of the 13th Amendment. An NPP delegation led by its leader MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake also met ITAK representatives and while they were discreet about what exactly was discussed, both sides agreed on the need to create national harmony.

Most provisions in the 13th Amendment are already in operation in the country except for the two contentious areas regarding the devolution of police and land powers to the provinces. Consensus on these two areas have been deadlocked for years and even if there is a change in Government, it’s likely to remain so given the powerful forces linked mainly to Sinhala nationalist groups will oppose such a move. 

The circumstances under which the 13th Amendment to the Constitution became law remains controversial and has never been fully accepted by the people of this country including Tamils. Most northern political parties have said this amendment does not go far enough to fulfil the aspirations of the Tamil people. The Sinhalese have always viewed the 13th Amendment, a by-product of the Indo-Lanka Peace Accord, with suspicion and this is not going to change anytime soon.

Among the staunchest opposers to the Indo-Lanka Accord when it was signed in July 1987 was the father of the SJB leader, then Prime Minister Ranasinghe Premadasa. While Premadasa opposed it from within the Government, and eventually voted for the 13th Amendment in Parliament, the signing of the Accord gave the biggest impetus to the second uprising by the JVP and led to one of the bloodiest chapters in the country’s recent history.

It is comforting in a way that both Sajith Premadasa and Anura Kumara Dissanayake understand that devolution is a must if the Tamil people of this country are to live with dignity and on par with the majority community. The question is how far are they willing to go on devolution and are they willing to put forward their policies during their election campaigns and not restrict such discussions to the boardroom when they meet with Tamil political leaders?

Having the benefit of being the incumbent, President Ranil Wickremesinghe began his engagement with the people of the north as well as political leaders representing the area several weeks ago. He has moved to grant land as well release acres of land that were occupied by the military. He has also engaged with the business community as well as the youth in these areas.

President Wickremesinghe is more aware than others how crucial the Tamil vote is in a presidential election. The LTTE’s call to boycott the 2005 Presidential election cost Wickremesinghe the election as less than 2% voters cast their votes in the Jaffna district out of more than 700,000 registered voters. A majority of these were predicted to go in support of the UNP candidate. Deprived of this crucial vote, Wickremesinghe lost to Mahinda Rajapaksa whose majority was just over 180,000 votes.

This shows clearly that whoever wants to make the 50% cut in the Presidential election will have to woo northern voters. The hope is they will do so with sincerity and not make promises only to forget them once they are in office.