Catherine Philp - A few weeks ago Sri Lanka’s upcoming general election looked like a walk in the park for the incumbent, President Rajapaksa, who was riding high on the kudos of ending the country's long-running civil war.
While Western human rights groups and governments railed at his abuses of power, at home the folksy President spoke confidently of his re-election in the first fully nationwide poll to be held in Sri Lanka for more than three decades.
That was before his own general, Sarath Fonseka, who led the offensive that crushed the Tamil Tigers, turned on the President and put himself forward as the candidate for the opposition. That motley coalition of parties has only one goal: to beat Mr Rajapaksa.
And so, in a bizarre twist, General Fonseka, the hammer of the Tamils, has won the support of the Tamil minority. A competition is now on between the President and his disillusioned general over who should take the credit for winning the war and get the chance to win the peace.
Tamil refugees are starting to trickle home after months imprisoned in detention camps because of harsh government measures ostensibly aimed at rooting out rebel fighters. Their votes have never counted in the way they promise to in this election because in the past the Tamil Tigers ordered them to boycott official polls.
Tamils make up about 12 per cent of the electorate but other groups — including Muslims descended from Arab and Malay traders and so-called Estate Tamils originating from India — bring the total "minority" proportion up to 25 per cent.
Sri Lanka’s other minorities have watched in alarm at the treatment of Tamils following the end of the civil war, and at the bellicose Sinhalese nationalism employed by the President and his allies.
The announcement by the Tamil National Alliance that they will back General Fonseka will send a powerful signal to other minorities that this might be their best chance of representation too.
General Fonseka has won Tamil support in part by alleging that the President himself was behind extrajudicial killings of Tamil Tiger rebels that the army chief did not authorise. He has also made much of Mr Rajapaksa’s failure to bring political reconciliation to Sri Lanka.
He has played up Mr Rajapaksa’s cronyism – three of his brothers are in his cabinet – corruption and economic failings in his pitch to the Sinhalese majority.
So far Mr Rajapaksa has led the field but support has recently started to shift towards the former general, influenced by allegations about state sabotage of his campaign.
Mr Rajapaksa’s defeat of the Tigers shows he has no qualms about fighting dirty and General Fonseka is a dangerous man – he holds the key to any future war crimes charges.
Whoever wins, Sri Lanka may not be big enough for both of them. The battle for the nation is not over.
© Times Online
Related Links:
Tamils throw weight behind general who crushed them - The Independent
"These candidates are largely to blame for destroying our people" - The Independent
All Ceylon Tamil Congress to support Fonseka - Express Buzz
Majority of TNA MPs back Fonseka - Tamil Net
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