Sri Lanka in turmoil as parliament dissolved
Sri Lanka in turmoil as parliament dissolved
Agencies, Colombo
Sri Lanka's fragile peace bid and reconstruction from war were plunged into uncertainty on Sunday after the president sacked parliament and called elections nearly four years ahead of schedule.
President Chandrika Kumaratunga dissolved the legislature and set April 2 polls on Saturday after months of wrangling with the prime minister over how to end ethnic strife that has claimed over 60,000 lives since 1972.
Her calling of the third parliamentary election since 2000 came despite international pressure on her to compromise with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
The two are from different parties and were elected separately in bloody campaigns that have become a trademark of Sri Lankan elections.
Wickremesinghe's party on Sunday asked elections chief Dayananda Dissanayake to invite foreign poll observers in a bid to minimize violence.
Meanwhile, analysts and politicians said on Sunday snap elections called for April 2 in Sri Lanka are a threat to the peace process between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels.
A two-year old cease-fire is expected to hold, but the future of peace talks is now unclear.
"The elections will not provide an answer, no matter who wins," Jehan Perera, media director the non-partisan National Peace Council, told Reuters.
He added that if Kumaratunga's People's Alliance won the poll, peace talks would be difficult because of her pact with the ultra-nationalist People's Liberation Front (JVP), which is opposed to any concessions to the rebels.
"The alliance has not agreed on its own policy toward the peace process," Perera said.
No opinion polls have been published but analysts and newspapers said the vote would be close and the president's alliance has momentum going into the race.
If Wickremesinghe's United National Party (UNP) wins, he would still have to deal with an all-powerful president who suspects he is willing to compromise security in order to make peace with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
The left-leaning Kumaratunga and the pro-business Wickremesinghe are bitter rivals. The president, who has survived a rebel suicide attack, takes a harder line on the Tigers and opposes Wickremesinghe's privatization policies.
Diplomats said the new instability could hold up US$4.5 billion pledged to rebuild the island, as donors linked the money to progress in the peace process.
Tamil legislators said the crisis may not be resolved even after the election.
"We can expect a lot of turmoil," Tamil MP Dharmalingam Sidhathan said.
"Even if the present UNP (United National Party government of Wickremesinghe) comes back to power, they will still have the same president and we will be back to square one."
He said if Kumaratunga's party won the legislature, it would have to contend with serious differences with its new leftist ally, the JVP, or People's Liberation Front, which opposes autonomy for the Tamil minority.