PUTTALAM DISTRICT GEARS UP FOR CLOSE ELECTION

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 001862

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

STATE FOR SA/INS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/28/2015
TAGS: PGOV CE
SUBJECT: PUTTALAM DISTRICT GEARS UP FOR CLOSE ELECTION


Classified By: DCM James F. Entwistle. Reason: 1.4 (B,D)


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: During a recent poloff visit to Puttalam
district on Sri Lanka's west coast, government officials
described a calm, if rather apathetic, polity and a
well-practiced electoral mechanism. Catholics in the area
are expected to support United National Party (UNP)
opposition candidate Ranil Wickremesinge, and the Sri Lankan
Muslim Congress (SLMC) has a detailed plan to get Muslims out
in force to vote for him as well. The Tamil residents of
Udappu, a mixed community fishing village, surprised poloffs
by announcing that they stood behind the Sri Lanka Freedom
Party's contender Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse,
prioritizing the party's past contributions to the village
over concerns about the candidate's pact with the
Marxist/nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP). In this
ethnically diverse pragmatism may trump policy in this close
election. END SUMMARY

This Is How We Do It
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2. (SBU) Two poloffs traveled up Sri Lanka's west coast to
take the pulse of the presidential campaign in Puttalam
district on October 21. Poloffs met with the Chilaw
Divisional Secretary N.H.M. Chitrandana, the Puttalam
Government Agent H.M. Herath and A.C.M. Nafeel, the Puttalam
Assistant Elections Commissioner. Government interlocutors
at all levels stated that no incidents of election violence
had occurred and that regular meetings with the police are
held to plan security for the polls. As in other districts,
Puttalam's 470,604 electors will receive polling cards
through the mail on November 9. This card will be presented
at one of the 425 polling stations corresponding to a
particular voter, and verified against the voter registration
list. Contesting political party representatives are
permitted at the polling stations to help voters, but
campaigning is prohibited within 200 meters of the polling
station. While Sri Lankans outside the island cannot vote,
government and military personnel assigned out of their
normal voting districts are provided with postal ballots.
The total cost of a Presidential election in Puttalam is Rs.
6 million, (USD 60,000).

Holy Roman Empire
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3. (SBU) Chilaw, known as the "Catholic Belt", is a port
city and the economic engine of Puttalam district. Unlike
his colleagues in later meetings, Divisional Secretary
Chitrandana was talkative about the upcoming election in
Chilaw. He stated that the endorsement of the Ceylon Workers
Congress (CWC) and SLMC made locals see the UNP as a solid
contender against the incumbent SLFP. These endorsements have
closed the race to a dead heat. Roman Catholics in Chilaw
outnumber the Hindus and Buddhists combined and are expected
to favor the Wickremesinge because of Rajapakse's ties to the
Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU),a right wing Buddhist that has
proposed legal restrictions on religious conversion.

Get Out The Vote
--------------

4. (SBU) Later that day, poloffs met with SLMC
parliamentarian K.Abdul Baiz, who described the SLMC strategy
to mobilize Puttalam's 55,000 Muslims to back Wickremesinge,
beginning with a rally for 5000 SLMC activists to fire up
their political base. The SLMC will attempt to discredit
Mahinda Rajapakse as a man with four policies; his own, the
JVP's, the JHU's and the SLFP's. The UNP platform promising
Muslims equal representation in any future peace talks and
post-tsunami aid plan, as well as an agreement to open a
college of education in Puttalam, is expected to resonate
with the voters. The SLMC also plans to use its 75 branch
party offices in villages and towns across the district to
convince 16,000 Tamil voters (Note: Tamils and Muslims both
speak Tamil) to support the UNP agenda. Although few Muslim
women voted in the 2004 parliamentary election, the SLMC has
set a goal of getting 10,000 women to the polls.

What Have You Done For Me Lately?
--------------

5. (U) In the fishing village of Udappu, a mixed community
of Tamils, Muslims and Christians, poloffs attended a
gathering of Hindu temple members. When asked about the
elections, the villagers complained loudly that they had been
ignored by both the SLFP and UNP. They recited a litany of
needs, including safe drinking water, schools for the village
and a paved road to the main highway. When asked which
leader represents their interests, someone proclaimed
"Prabahkaran is our leader," (NOTE: Prabahkaran is leader of
the LTTE) to the general agreement of the crowd. When asked
whom would they vote for, however, the response was
unanimously for Mahinda Rajapakse and the SLFP as the UNP had
done nothing for them during its years in power. They lauded
SLFP Fisheries Minister Milroy Fernando for his assistance in
obtaining housing construction funds and for a pledge of USD
15,000 to upgrade their road. They appreciated that
Rajapakse stopped at their village and promised that if
elected he would meet their needs. When asked if they were
concerned about Rajapakse's pact with the JVP, they said the
PM told them "I was not President when I signed the
agreement," Wickremesinge, on the other hand, is still
vilified by the villagers over a 2003 visit, when he ignored
a crowd gathered in front of the temple in favor of a brief
stop at a UNP stage, where he thanked his local organizer and
drove off.


6. (SBU) At a small lunch, poloffs were able to speak
individually with members of the group about their views on
the need for a Tamil homeland. While they admired
Prabahkaran as a great Tamil nationalist, they said that
Tamils living in government areas were discriminated against
by northern and eastern Tamils when they traveled into
LTTE-controlled territory. Unless they could be guaranteed
the same rights and benefits as the fighting Tamils, they had
no interest in being second-class citizens in a future Tamil
Eelam.


7. (C) COMMENT: As elsewhere, the race in this ethnically
mixed coastal district appears too close to call right now.
poloffs were surprised at Tamil enthusiasm for the SLFP,
illustrating that all politics is indeed local and
Rajapakse's salt of the earth image plays well across ethnic
communities, at least in this locality. Rajapakse's harder
line on the peace process, while obviously unpopular with the
Tamils in the north and east, appears to be of less relevance
to more pragmatic Tamils in the west. For that group the key
question has been who has delivered more, and Rajapakse's
SLFP, its pact with the JVP notwithstanding, appears to have
won that round. Wickremesinge has is seen as an aloof
intellectual, lacking the common touch and his faux paux two
years ago still leaves a bitter taste in this one district.
A key will be if the SLMC can mobilize its own community, let
alone deliver 16,000 Tamils to the UNP side. END COMMENT
LUNSTEAD