US embassy cable - 05COLOMBO1503

UNCLAS COLOMBO 001503 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR SA/INS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, CE, Elections 
SUBJECT: SRI LANKAN SUPREME COURT DECIDES PRESIDENTIAL 
ELECTIONS IN 2005 
 
REF: A. COLOMBO 1446 
 
     B. COLOMBO 1354 
 
1.  (U) On August 26 a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court 
ruled that presidential elections must take place between 
October 28 and November 22, 2005.  The decision, rendered in 
response to a petition filed by the opposition Jathika Hela 
Urumaya (JHU) party, ends months of speculation whether polls 
would be held this year or next (Reftels).  Uncertainty about 
the election date arose from conflicting interpretations of 
when incumbent President Chandrika Kumaratunga's second term 
in office ends.  With the Court's determination that her term 
ends in December 2005, actual scheduling of the election 
within the specified time frame now falls to Election 
Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake.  He is expected to make 
an announcement within the next few weeks. 
 
2.  (U)  Despite the uncertainty surrounding the date, 
political parties on both sides of the aisle have been in 
full campaign mode since the government lost its largest 
coalition partner, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, in June. 
In July the opposition United National Party (UNP) announced 
that its leader and two-time Prime Minister Ranil 
Wickremesinghe would be its next presidential candidate and 
Deputy UNP Leader Karu Jayasuriya its candidate for Prime 
Minister.  (Note:  Although the current Parliament's term 
does not end until 2010, there is widespread speculation that 
the President may dissolve Parliament, forcing general 
elections more or less concurrently with presidential polls. 
End note.)  On August 1 President Kumaratunga announced that 
incumbent Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse would carry her 
Sri Lankan Freedom Party's (SLFP) nomination for President, 
while presidential sibling and recently appointed Foreign 
Minister Anura Bandaranaike was given the nod for Prime 
Minister. 
 
3. (SBU)  Comment:  Even though the President and her SLFP 
have publicly maintained over the past year that presidential 
elections are not due until the end of 2006--and even though 
Supreme Court Chief Justice Sarath Silva is widely assumed to 
be in the President's pocket--the Court's decision comes as 
little surprise to anyone.  On August 24 PM Rajapakse told 
Charge' that he expected the Court to decide on elections in 
2005; later the same day SLFP MP and President's Counsel 
Wijedasa Rajapakse, who first framed the argument that 
presidential elections should take place in 2006, told poloff 
the same.  With the August 12 assassination of Foreign 
Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar by suspected Liberation Tigers 
of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) insurgents still fresh in voters'--and 
candidates'--minds, questions about how and whether to 
advance the peace process will likely dominate electoral 
debates. 
ENTWISTLE