Lemming-like
The United National Party (UNP) stands divided, and its Working Committee (WC) has sacked the party rebels who are contesting the next general election from the Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB). On Wednesday, the UNP officially conveyed its decision to the SJB, which pooh-poohed it. The SJB members claim they have not left the UNP and the formation of their electoral alliance was in keeping with a UNP WC decision. Their rivals maintain the SJB has been registered as a separate political party, and, therefore, a UNP member cannot join it or contest elections on its ticket. These arguments and counterarguments are sure to lead to a legal battle. The green Jumbos are following a course towards mass destruction.
If the dissolved Parliament happened to be reconvened, by any chance, then the nomination lists submitted for the next general election would become invalid, according to legal experts. The UNP MPs who have joined the SJB would be at the mercy of the UNP leadership, in such an eventuality because the UNP could seek their expulsion from Parliament. Something similar happened after the failed constitutional coup in 2018. The Joint Opposition MPs elected from the UPFA became members of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) immediately after the then President Maithripala Sirisena had dissolved Parliament. When the Supreme Court declared the presidential proclamation that had dissolved Parliament was not consistent with the Constitution and, therefore, null and void, and Parliament was reconvened, the UPFA MPs in the SLPP, including the then Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa, found themselves up the creek. Technically, they had ceased to be MPs as they were no longer members of the SLFP/UPFA. President Sirisena, however, did not pursue the matter. The UNP raised the issue, insisting that all the Joint Opposition members had ceased to the MPs, but its campaign fizzled out. The boot would be on the other foot if Parliament were to be reconvened.
The UNP is no stranger to splits. Its history is replete with instances of breakaways. It was a UNP splinter group that founded the SLFP. The UNP suffered a debilitating split in the early 1990s, when a group of heavyweights led by Lalith Athulathmudali and Gamini Dissanayake made an abortive bid to impeach the then President Ranasinghe Premadasa. Expelled from the UNP, they formed the Democratic United National Front (DUNF), which, however, withered on the vine following the assassination of Athulathmudali.
The debilitation of mainstream political parties is injurious to the country’s political health. The UNP’s ignominious defeat at the 1970 election enabled the SLFP-led United Front government to do as it pleased and even extend the term of Parliament by two years. The trouncing of the SLFP at the 1977 general election and the resultant rifts among its leaders helped the UNP bulldoze its way through. Perhaps, the country would not have faced southern terror if a general election had been held, in 1982, instead of a heavily rigged referendum and the JRJ government had desisted from proscribing the JVP for political reasons. The TULF mismanaged its electoral gains, after the 1977 general election, and pandered to the whims and fancies of militant groups, and created its Frankenstein in the process. It bore the brunt of northern terrorism and, now, it is not a shadow of its former self.
One may argue that the UNP’s intraparty dispute pales into insignificance in comparison to bitter rivalries between the SLFP leadership and party dissidents following the 2015 presidential election. Sirisena brought down the SLFP-led UPFA government, which had mustered a two-thirds majority in Parliament, after becoming the President with the help of the UNP. He, thereafter, went so far as to have members of the Rajapaksa family arrested and remanded. The SLFP and its dissidents in the SLPP, however, joined forces, last year, to win the presidential election; they are contesting the next general election together. Why the UNP cannot do likewise is the question.
The United National Party (UNP) stands divided, and its Working Committee (WC) has sacked the party rebels who are contesting the next general election from the Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB). On Wednesday, the UNP officially conveyed its decision to the SJB, which pooh-poohed it. The SJB members claim they have not left the UNP and the formation of their electoral alliance was in keeping with a UNP WC decision. Their rivals maintain the SJB has been registered as a separate political party, and, therefore, a UNP member cannot join it or contest elections on its ticket. These arguments and counterarguments are sure to lead to a legal battle. The green Jumbos are following a course towards mass destruction.
If the dissolved Parliament happened to be reconvened, by any chance, then the nomination lists submitted for the next general election would become invalid, according to legal experts. The UNP MPs who have joined the SJB would be at the mercy of the UNP leadership, in such an eventuality because the UNP could seek their expulsion from Parliament. Something similar happened after the failed constitutional coup in 2018. The Joint Opposition MPs elected from the UPFA became members of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) immediately after the then President Maithripala Sirisena had dissolved Parliament. When the Supreme Court declared the presidential proclamation that had dissolved Parliament was not consistent with the Constitution and, therefore, null and void, and Parliament was reconvened, the UPFA MPs in the SLPP, including the then Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa, found themselves up the creek. Technically, they had ceased to be MPs as they were no longer members of the SLFP/UPFA. President Sirisena, however, did not pursue the matter. The UNP raised the issue, insisting that all the Joint Opposition members had ceased to the MPs, but its campaign fizzled out. The boot would be on the other foot if Parliament were to be reconvened.
The UNP is no stranger to splits. Its history is replete with instances of breakaways. It was a UNP splinter group that founded the SLFP. The UNP suffered a debilitating split in the early 1990s, when a group of heavyweights led by Lalith Athulathmudali and Gamini Dissanayake made an abortive bid to impeach the then President Ranasinghe Premadasa. Expelled from the UNP, they formed the Democratic United National Front (DUNF), which, however, withered on the vine following the assassination of Athulathmudali.
The debilitation of mainstream political parties is injurious to the country’s political health. The UNP’s ignominious defeat at the 1970 election enabled the SLFP-led United Front government to do as it pleased and even extend the term of Parliament by two years. The trouncing of the SLFP at the 1977 general election and the resultant rifts among its leaders helped the UNP bulldoze its way through. Perhaps, the country would not have faced southern terror if a general election had been held, in 1982, instead of a heavily rigged referendum and the JRJ government had desisted from proscribing the JVP for political reasons. The TULF mismanaged its electoral gains, after the 1977 general election, and pandered to the whims and fancies of militant groups, and created its Frankenstein in the process. It bore the brunt of northern terrorism and, now, it is not a shadow of its former self.
One may argue that the UNP’s intraparty dispute pales into insignificance in comparison to bitter rivalries between the SLFP leadership and party dissidents following the 2015 presidential election. Sirisena brought down the SLFP-led UPFA government, which had mustered a two-thirds majority in Parliament, after becoming the President with the help of the UNP. He, thereafter, went so far as to have members of the Rajapaksa family arrested and remanded. The SLFP and its dissidents in the SLPP, however, joined forces, last year, to win the presidential election; they are contesting the next general election together. Why the UNP cannot do likewise is the question.
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