BASIL RAJAPAKSA DISCUSSES ELECTIONS IN EAST, APRC,

C O N F I D E N T I A L COLOMBO 000231

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/INA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/05/2017
TAGS: PGOV PHUM CE
SUBJECT: BASIL RAJAPAKSA DISCUSSES ELECTIONS IN EAST, APRC,
AND THE CONSTITUTIONAL COUNCIL

Classified By: Ambassador Robert O. Blake, Jr. for reasons
1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: At a March 5 lunch with Co-Chair Ambassadors,
Basil Rajapaksa, the President's brother, senior political
advisor, and coordinator for the stabilization and
development of the East, said that the President had insisted
to all the parties and the paramilitary TMVP that the March
10th local council elections in the east must be free and
fair and without violence, but that there was a risk the LTTE
might try to disrupt the last day of campaigning on March 8.
Rajapaksa previewed the President's intention to ask the
Elections Commissioner to set a date by which nominations for
the provincial council elections in the east must be
received, with a view to holding them in May or June if the
Commissioner determines security and other conditions are
met. Basil told the Co-Chairs the President is sincere about
proceeding with the All Parties Representative Committee
process on devolution, but that the government can only fight
one political battle at a time. The President's priority was
first to implement the 13th Amendment, show tangible progress
on devolution, and then to proceed with the APRC. Rajapaksa
was evasive in citing procedural reasons to explain the
President's failure to implement the 17th amendment and
appoint the Constitutional Council. End Summary.

Elections in the East
--------------


2. (C) Rajapaksa said that the President had insisted to all
the parties and the TMVP that the March 10th local council
elections in the east must be free and fair and without
violence. He noted that large additional numbers of police
had been deployed both to provide security at the election
voting sites, as well as for any individual candidates that
requested security. He said he had personally visited
Batticaloa the previous day to inspect preparations and to
talk to party representatives. Asked about the potential for
violence, he said the biggest concern was whether the LTTE
would attempt any attacks. He recalled that the LTTE had
demonstrated a pattern of attacking former President
Chandrika Kumaratunga and former presidential candidate
Gamini Dissanayake two days prior to the elections after
which all campaigning would halt. The GSL's greatest concern
therefore is for potential attacks on Saturday March 8th,
after which campaigning would cease. Japanese Charge
remarked that a Japanese officer in Batticaloa confirmed that
the situation was calm. Basil said there were at least 20
international observers in Batticaloa, all of whom had been
given special access passes to observe the elections. He
also noted that all the parties fielding candidates would be
able to witness the vote counting to ensure transparency.


3. (C) Turning to the planned provincial council elections,
Rajapaksa said that the President plans to send a letter to
the national Elections Commissioner on March 7 suggesting
that the Commissioner set a date by which nominations for the
provincial council elections in the east must be received.
By law, the Commissioner has seven days to set the date.
Ambassador asked why the President was sending the letter so
soon and whether it wouldn't be better to await the outcome
of the March 10 local council elections before proceeding
with the nomination process. Could not the potential for
violence either during or after the local council elections
cloud the confidence of the parties who the government is
hoping will participate in the elections? Basil responded
that with the liberation and stabilization of the east, it is
important now to provide the population there with elected
representation, particularly now that the President is
seeking to implement the 13th Amendment which seeks to
devolve power to the provincial councils (PC). On the
security issue, he said that the Election Commissioner will
be the one to decide on the actual date for the elections,
once he is satisfied that security and other conditions are
satisfactory.


4. (C) Rajapaksa expressed confidence that all the major
parties would participate in the planned PC elections because
the stakes are high. He had received information from UNP
politicians in the east that they want to participate in the
PC elections and would pressure opposition leader
Wickremesinghe to allow them to do so. The French and
Norwegian Ambassadors added that the Tamil National Alliance
leader Sampanthan had told them that he also is advocating

that the TNA participate.

APRC
--------------


5. (C) Citing reports that Dr. Wickramaratne, a member of
APRC Chairman Vitharana's LSSP party, had resigned as a
senior consultant to the Ministry of Constitutional Affairs
because of what he felt was a lack of government sincerity on
devolving power, the Norwegian Ambassador asked whether the
government was indeed sincere. Basil responded that the
government is sincere, but that it can only fight one
political battle at a time. The President's priority was
first to implement the 13th Amendment, show tangible progress
on devolution, and then to proceed with the APRC. He said
the President had met the previous day with provincial chief
ministers to discuss how to remove any obstacles to the
implementation of the 13th Amendment. The President agreed
that once lump sums of money had been allocated to the
provinces, provincial officials did not have to seek approval
from Colombo- based authorities about how to spend it. The
Ambassador noted that AID had received a proposal from a well
known Sri Lankan NGO to fund a conference at which provincial
officials could discuss in greater detail the obstacles they
faced in implementing the 13th Amendment and their proposed
solutions. Rajapakasa welcomed the idea and promised to
assist if he could be helpful.

Constitutional Council
--------------


6. (C) Ambassador, noting the priority the President had
placed on implementing the 13th amendment of the
Constitution, asked why the President was hesitating to
implement the 17th amendment and thereby empower the
Constitutional Council. Basil responded that opposition
criticism of the President on this matter has been unfair.
The TNA and JVP had spent more than a year arguing about who
should represent the minority parties on the Council. The
President should now be given a reasonable time to consider
his candidate. He also said the President was awaiting the
recommendations of a Parliamentary Select Committee that had
been appointed to analyze how to make the Council more
effective.

Comment
--------------


7. (C) Even though the GSL has made progress in persuading
paramilitaries in the east not to flaunt their weapons
publicly prior to the local council elections and reining in
acts of violence, the identities of the paramilitary cadres
are widely known, so the Muslim and Tamil parties fear that
paramilitary cadres may intimidate even the police and
elections commission officials and possibly tamper with the
election process. The parties who are contesting and the
small contingent of international observers will make every
effort to deter such interference. We have forewarned the
GSL that a widely discredited outcome in the local council
elections will complicate the GSL's goal of organizing the
more significant Provincial Council elections they hope to
hold by May or June of this year. The President's delay in
appointing the Constitutional Council has fed mounting
criticism in Colombo, and is one of the reasons the Embassy
and other USG officials in Washington and Geneva have
supported the establishment of an office by the High
Commissioner for Human Rights, and should continue to do so.
Basil's reference to the Parliamentary Select Committee
looking into how to make the Council more effective is
another delaying tactic since this Committee also has not met
recently due to differences between the parties.
BLAKE