US embassy cable - 04COLOMBO1482

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 001482 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SA/INS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/06/2014 
TAGS: PGOV, CE, Political Parties 
SUBJECT: SRI LANKA:  HILL TAMIL PARTY GIVES GOVERNMENT 
RAZOR-THIN MAJORITY 
 
 
Classified By: CDA JAMES F. ENTWISTLE.  REASON:  1.4 (B,D). 
 
 
 
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CEYLON WORKERS NOW WORKING FOR THE GOVERNMENT 
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1.  (U) Sealing a long-anticipated move, on September 5 
Arumugan Thondaman, head of the Ceylon Workers' Congress 
(CWC), announced that his party's eight MPs will support the 
United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government of 
President Chandrika Kumaratunga.  The CWC switch means that 
Kumaratunga's fragile coalition government can count on 114 
votes in the 225-seat Parliament as it heads toward a vote on 
the budget and other controversial measures, securing the 
President the crucial--if razor-thin--majority that has 
eluded her since her patchwork alliance won elections in 
April.  The CWC has, with only rare exception, traditionally 
supported the opposition United National Party (UNP), 
including during the last government. 
 
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NATIONAL INTEREST OR POLITICAL GAMESMANSHIP? 
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2.  (SBU)  When asked what prompted the CWC decision at this 
particular moment, party stalwarts offered two differing 
analyses.  Faizer Mustapha, an MP from Kandy who is close to 
the party leader, cited such politically disinterested 
motives as the party's desire for a stable government to 
advance the peace process and much-needed economic programs. 
Mustapha denied that the CWC had been promised any 
ministerial slots in exchange. 
 
3.  (C)  CWC MP Vadivel Putrasigamini, on the other hand, 
identified more parochial concerns, such as inroads made by 
other parties into the CWC's traditional constituencies, as 
the primary impetus.  In particular, Putrasigamini 
highlighted growing concern at "the JVP (Janatha Vimukti 
Peramuna, a member of the government alliance) infiltrating 
into the plantations" that constitute the CWC's traditional 
stronghold.  In addition, the CWC hopes to garner political 
credit for the economic development programs the government 
has committed to conducting.  Sitting in the Opposition makes 
that hard to do, Putrasigamini observed candidly.  Finally, 
supporting the government will help the CWC more effectively 
oppose a controversial hydropower project proposal, which, if 
implemented, could involve the resettlement of key portions 
of the CWC electorate, he concluded.   When asked if the CWC 
move were also intended to support government efforts to 
advance the peace process, he responded, "That, too."  In 
exchange, he suggested, the CWC will gain one ministerial 
portfolio--possibly Estate Infrastructure--as well as two 
slots for deputy ministers. 
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COMMENT 
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4.  (C) A decade ago, the CWC, with its solid voter base of 
Indian "hill" Tamils on tea estates in Nuwara Eliya and 
Badulla, was the third largest party and thus the uncontested 
"kingmaker" in a political landscape dominated by the two 
national giants, the Sri Lankan Freedom Party (SLFP) and the 
UNP.  Since then, however, in the reconfiguration of 
political alliances and the proliferation of new parties, the 
CWC's ranking in the current Parliament has slipped to an 
unimpressive seventh place--trailing behind the 
rabble-rousing JVP, the jingoist Jathika Hela Urumaya and 
even the badly splintered Sri Lanka Muslim Congress.  To 
preserve its endangered political prestige, the CWC needs to 
demonstrate to its constituents that it can still deliver the 
goods.  As Putrasigamini observed, aligning itself with the 
Government seems the most practical way to do so. 
 
5.  (C)  Comment (continued):  The Government has been 
uncharacteristically quiet about the CWC cross-over.  Perhaps 
this atypical reserve signals that the President, whose 
narrow one-seat majority still hinges on the volatile, 
unpredictable JVP, realizes that she is not out of the woods 
yet.  That test will come during the current session of 
Parliament, which opened September 7, when she must call on 
the support of her motley alliance to pass the first 
legislation of her administration. 
ENTWISTLE