MOHAMED AYUB 
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NPP caught in the crossfire between theory and practice
Ms. Balthazaar is the first leftist mayor elected for the Colombo Municipality in 70 years. The last and the only leftist mayor in CMC’s history was veteran leader of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) and former Finance Minister Dr. N.M. Perera who served in the post for two years, 1954-1956
If the NPP’s morality takes precedence over power, the parties that highly contributed to the bankruptcy of the country in the past will exploit the situation to restrengthen themselves
How the National People’s Power (NPP) which had failed to secure absolute power in the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) at the May 6 local government elections finally captured power of the council last Monday is still a secret.
It seems to be known only to a few NPP members of the council and 13 members from other parties and/or independent groups who supported them to achieve the feat. Others would not know who those 13 members are, sometimes to the rest of the current tenure of the CMC.
The NPP managed to secure only 48 out of 117 seats in the council at last month’s election which was 11 seats short of an absolute majority. Other parties including the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), United National Party (UNP), Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) as well as five independent groups had won 69 seats, if taken collectively.
Therefore, those parties were confident that they would easily take control of the council. The NPP also boasted to do the same. Finally, when Local Government Commissioner of the Western Province, Sarangika Jayasundara conducted an election for the post of mayor on June 16, Vraie Cally Balthazaar of the NPP emerged victorious bagging 61 out of 117 votes in the council. The Samagi Jana Balawegaya candidate Riza Zarook who contested as the common candidate of other parties received only 54 votes. NPP member Hemantha Kumara was elected deputy mayor.
Ms. Balthazaar is the first leftist mayor elected for the Colombo Municipality in 70 years. The last and the only leftist mayor in CMC’s history was veteran leader of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) and former Finance Minister Dr. N.M. Perera who served in the post for two years, 1954-1956. Ms. Balthazaar is only the second female mayor in Colombo succeeding Rosy Senanayake. With her ascension to the mayoralty, the continuity of UNP administration in the council has been disturbed for the second time since Independence.
The NPP won highest number of seats in 266 out of 339 local government bodies for which elections were held last month. Of the 266, in 119 councils it had secured an absolute majority of seats. On June 2, on the day the term of the new local government bodies officially commenced, it instituted 151 councils including those 119 councils, by electing or appointing the mayors and Chairmen, as the case may be. It indicates that the NPP on June 2 has secured power in 32 councils where no party has got an absolute majority but some other parties were leading.
Of the 178 remaining LG councils where no party has obtained 50 percent of seats, elections were held for some councils including the CMC on June 16. Elections are ongoing for the remaining councils. Hence, the NPP is expected to secure power in about 200 out of 341 LG bodies in the country, with or without the support of the members of other parties.
Since the NPP has been branding all other parties as rogues and thieves, it seemed to have faced a huge moral issue in instituting councils with the support of members of those parties where it failed to secure an absolute majority. It also wanted to capture power in councils where other parties were in the forefront, but without getting 50 percent of seats. Therefore, Tilvin Silva, the General Secretary of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the core party in the NPP coalition, told th media soon after the elections that the NPP would capture power in those councils with the support of members of independent groups.
In fact, it is a face-saving exercise, given the purpose and political designs of individual members of other parties, as well as independent groups, constituting the same achieving power, positions and wealth. The NPP not only called the other parties rogues, but vehemently criticised crossovers by members elected to Parliament, provincial councils and LG bodies and vowed to bring in laws to prevent such practices. However, they had to persuade individual members of other parties to renege their respective leaderships in this case, to seek their support in instituting new councils.
The NPP not only won over individual members of other parties in this effort, rather, they interestingly made deals with other parties such as the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), the party representing the up-country Tamils to capture power in councils with mutual support.
When it comes to forming local government administrations in councils where they failed to win an absolute majority, this was the major issue the NPP encountered, with practicality running counter to the theory. The JVP, the driving force behind the NPP, had to choose between maintaining moral high ground by not seeking support from other parties and making use of a situation that they were anticipating for six decades to seize power.
If the NPP’s morality takes precedence over power, the parties that highly contributed to the bankruptcy of the country in the past will exploit the situation to restrengthen themselves. Those parties would not take morality into account in this endeavor. They while questioning NPP’s commitment to morality, brazenly joined hands with each other, ignoring how they criticised each other during the recent elections.
On the other hand, if the NPP seeks assistance of other parties to take advantage of the situation and capture power, it would amount to compromising morality. Finally, the party gave precedence to power over morality, unless which the erosion of their popularity might be expedited corresponding to the restrengthening of other parties.
Heated arguments broke out during the first meeting of many LG councils over voting for the election of mayors or chairmen, with one group, in many cases the NPP, opting for a secret ballot while the other parties which fielded common candidates for the post wanting an open ballot.
Secret ballot facilitates the voter - in this case the members of the relevant LG council - to vote according to his conscience or without anyone’s influence, but people would know who their representative voted for. On the other hand, an open ballot is always influenced by party discipline, sometimes suppressing conscience. Here again, the NPP gave precedence to power and practicality over the theory they have been preaching.
It seems to be known only to a few NPP members of the council and 13 members from other parties and/or independent groups who supported them to achieve the feat. Others would not know who those 13 members are, sometimes to the rest of the current tenure of the CMC.
The NPP managed to secure only 48 out of 117 seats in the council at last month’s election which was 11 seats short of an absolute majority. Other parties including the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), United National Party (UNP), Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) as well as five independent groups had won 69 seats, if taken collectively.
Therefore, those parties were confident that they would easily take control of the council. The NPP also boasted to do the same. Finally, when Local Government Commissioner of the Western Province, Sarangika Jayasundara conducted an election for the post of mayor on June 16, Vraie Cally Balthazaar of the NPP emerged victorious bagging 61 out of 117 votes in the council. The Samagi Jana Balawegaya candidate Riza Zarook who contested as the common candidate of other parties received only 54 votes. NPP member Hemantha Kumara was elected deputy mayor.
Ms. Balthazaar is the first leftist mayor elected for the Colombo Municipality in 70 years. The last and the only leftist mayor in CMC’s history was veteran leader of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) and former Finance Minister Dr. N.M. Perera who served in the post for two years, 1954-1956. Ms. Balthazaar is only the second female mayor in Colombo succeeding Rosy Senanayake. With her ascension to the mayoralty, the continuity of UNP administration in the council has been disturbed for the second time since Independence.
The NPP won highest number of seats in 266 out of 339 local government bodies for which elections were held last month. Of the 266, in 119 councils it had secured an absolute majority of seats. On June 2, on the day the term of the new local government bodies officially commenced, it instituted 151 councils including those 119 councils, by electing or appointing the mayors and Chairmen, as the case may be. It indicates that the NPP on June 2 has secured power in 32 councils where no party has got an absolute majority but some other parties were leading.
Of the 178 remaining LG councils where no party has obtained 50 percent of seats, elections were held for some councils including the CMC on June 16. Elections are ongoing for the remaining councils. Hence, the NPP is expected to secure power in about 200 out of 341 LG bodies in the country, with or without the support of the members of other parties.
Since the NPP has been branding all other parties as rogues and thieves, it seemed to have faced a huge moral issue in instituting councils with the support of members of those parties where it failed to secure an absolute majority. It also wanted to capture power in councils where other parties were in the forefront, but without getting 50 percent of seats. Therefore, Tilvin Silva, the General Secretary of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the core party in the NPP coalition, told th media soon after the elections that the NPP would capture power in those councils with the support of members of independent groups.
In fact, it is a face-saving exercise, given the purpose and political designs of individual members of other parties, as well as independent groups, constituting the same achieving power, positions and wealth. The NPP not only called the other parties rogues, but vehemently criticised crossovers by members elected to Parliament, provincial councils and LG bodies and vowed to bring in laws to prevent such practices. However, they had to persuade individual members of other parties to renege their respective leaderships in this case, to seek their support in instituting new councils.
The NPP not only won over individual members of other parties in this effort, rather, they interestingly made deals with other parties such as the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), the party representing the up-country Tamils to capture power in councils with mutual support.
When it comes to forming local government administrations in councils where they failed to win an absolute majority, this was the major issue the NPP encountered, with practicality running counter to the theory. The JVP, the driving force behind the NPP, had to choose between maintaining moral high ground by not seeking support from other parties and making use of a situation that they were anticipating for six decades to seize power.
If the NPP’s morality takes precedence over power, the parties that highly contributed to the bankruptcy of the country in the past will exploit the situation to restrengthen themselves. Those parties would not take morality into account in this endeavor. They while questioning NPP’s commitment to morality, brazenly joined hands with each other, ignoring how they criticised each other during the recent elections.
On the other hand, if the NPP seeks assistance of other parties to take advantage of the situation and capture power, it would amount to compromising morality. Finally, the party gave precedence to power over morality, unless which the erosion of their popularity might be expedited corresponding to the restrengthening of other parties.
Heated arguments broke out during the first meeting of many LG councils over voting for the election of mayors or chairmen, with one group, in many cases the NPP, opting for a secret ballot while the other parties which fielded common candidates for the post wanting an open ballot.
Secret ballot facilitates the voter - in this case the members of the relevant LG council - to vote according to his conscience or without anyone’s influence, but people would know who their representative voted for. On the other hand, an open ballot is always influenced by party discipline, sometimes suppressing conscience. Here again, the NPP gave precedence to power and practicality over the theory they have been preaching.
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