US embassy cable - 05COLOMBO1862

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 001862 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR SA/INS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/28/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, CE, Elections 
SUBJECT: PUTTALAM DISTRICT GEARS UP FOR CLOSE ELECTION 
 
 
Classified By: DCM James F. Entwistle.  Reason: 1.4 (B,D) 
 
1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  During a recent poloff visit to Puttalam 
district on Sri Lanka's west coast, government officials 
described a calm, if rather apathetic, polity and a 
well-practiced electoral mechanism.  Catholics in the area 
are expected to support United National Party (UNP) 
opposition candidate Ranil Wickremesinge, and the Sri Lankan 
Muslim Congress (SLMC) has a detailed plan to get Muslims out 
in force to vote for him as well.  The Tamil residents of 
Udappu, a mixed community fishing village, surprised poloffs 
by announcing that they stood behind the Sri Lanka Freedom 
Party's contender Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse, 
prioritizing the party's past contributions to the village 
over concerns about the candidate's pact with the 
Marxist/nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP). In this 
ethnically diverse pragmatism may trump policy in this close 
election. END SUMMARY 
 
This Is How We Do It 
-------------------- 
2.  (SBU) Two poloffs traveled up Sri Lanka's west coast to 
take the pulse of the presidential campaign in Puttalam 
district on October 21.  Poloffs met with the Chilaw 
Divisional Secretary N.H.M. Chitrandana, the Puttalam 
Government Agent H.M. Herath and A.C.M. Nafeel, the Puttalam 
Assistant Elections Commissioner.  Government interlocutors 
at all levels stated that no incidents of election violence 
had occurred and that regular meetings with the police are 
held to plan security for the polls.  As in other districts, 
Puttalam's 470,604 electors will receive polling cards 
through the mail on November 9.  This card will be presented 
at one of the 425 polling stations corresponding to a 
particular voter, and verified against the voter registration 
list.  Contesting political party representatives are 
permitted at the polling stations to help voters, but 
campaigning is prohibited within 200 meters of the polling 
station.  While Sri Lankans outside the island cannot vote, 
government and military personnel assigned out of their 
normal voting districts are provided with postal ballots. 
The total cost of a Presidential election in Puttalam is Rs. 
6 million, (USD 60,000). 
 
Holy Roman Empire 
----------------- 
3.  (SBU) Chilaw, known as the "Catholic Belt", is a port 
city and the economic engine of Puttalam district.  Unlike 
his colleagues in later meetings, Divisional Secretary 
Chitrandana was talkative about the upcoming election in 
Chilaw.  He stated that the endorsement of the Ceylon Workers 
Congress (CWC) and SLMC made locals see the UNP as a solid 
contender against the incumbent SLFP. These endorsements have 
closed the race to a dead heat.  Roman Catholics in Chilaw 
outnumber the Hindus and Buddhists combined and are expected 
to favor the Wickremesinge because of Rajapakse's ties to the 
Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), a right wing Buddhist that has 
proposed legal restrictions on religious conversion. 
 
Get Out The Vote 
---------------- 
4.  (SBU) Later that day, poloffs met with SLMC 
parliamentarian K.Abdul Baiz, who described the SLMC strategy 
to mobilize Puttalam's 55,000 Muslims to back Wickremesinge, 
beginning with a rally for 5000 SLMC activists to fire up 
their political base.  The SLMC will attempt to discredit 
Mahinda Rajapakse as a man with four policies; his own, the 
JVP's, the JHU's and the SLFP's.  The UNP platform promising 
Muslims equal representation in any future peace talks and 
post-tsunami aid plan, as well as an agreement to open a 
college of education in Puttalam, is expected to resonate 
with the voters.  The SLMC also plans to use its 75 branch 
party offices in villages and towns across the district to 
convince 16,000 Tamil voters (Note: Tamils and Muslims both 
speak Tamil) to support the UNP agenda.  Although few Muslim 
women voted in the 2004 parliamentary election, the SLMC has 
set a goal of getting 10,000 women to the polls. 
 
What Have You Done For Me Lately? 
-------------------------------- 
5.  (U) In the fishing village of Udappu, a mixed community 
of Tamils, Muslims and Christians, poloffs attended a 
gathering of Hindu temple members.  When asked about the 
elections, the villagers complained loudly that they had been 
ignored by both the SLFP and UNP.  They recited a litany of 
needs, including safe drinking water, schools for the village 
and a paved road to the main highway.  When asked which 
leader represents their interests, someone proclaimed 
"Prabahkaran is our leader," (NOTE: Prabahkaran is leader of 
the LTTE) to the general agreement of the crowd.  When asked 
whom would they vote for, however, the response was 
unanimously for Mahinda Rajapakse and the SLFP as the UNP had 
done nothing for them during its years in power.  They lauded 
SLFP Fisheries Minister Milroy Fernando for his assistance in 
obtaining housing construction funds and for a pledge of USD 
15,000 to upgrade their road.  They appreciated that 
Rajapakse stopped at their village and promised that if 
elected he would meet their needs.  When asked if they were 
concerned about Rajapakse's pact with the JVP, they said the 
PM told them "I was not President when I signed the 
agreement,"  Wickremesinge, on the other hand, is still 
vilified by the villagers over a 2003 visit, when he ignored 
a crowd gathered in front of the temple in favor of a brief 
stop at a UNP stage, where he thanked his local organizer and 
drove off. 
 
6.  (SBU) At a small lunch, poloffs were able to speak 
individually with members of the group about their views on 
the need for a Tamil homeland.  While they admired 
Prabahkaran as a great Tamil nationalist, they said that 
Tamils living in government areas were discriminated against 
by northern and eastern Tamils when they traveled into 
LTTE-controlled territory.  Unless they could be guaranteed 
the same rights and benefits as the fighting Tamils, they had 
no interest in being second-class citizens in a future Tamil 
Eelam. 
 
7. (C) COMMENT:  As elsewhere, the race in this ethnically 
mixed coastal district appears too close to call right now. 
poloffs were surprised at Tamil enthusiasm for the SLFP, 
illustrating that all politics is indeed local and 
Rajapakse's salt of the earth image plays well across ethnic 
communities, at least in this locality.  Rajapakse's harder 
line on the peace process, while obviously unpopular with the 
Tamils in the north and east, appears to be of less relevance 
to more pragmatic Tamils in the west.  For that group the key 
question has been who has delivered more, and Rajapakse's 
SLFP, its pact with the JVP notwithstanding, appears to have 
won that round.   Wickremesinge has is seen as an aloof 
intellectual, lacking the common touch and his faux paux two 
years ago still leaves a bitter taste in this one district. 
A key will be if the SLMC can mobilize its own community, let 
alone deliver 16,000 Tamils to the UNP side.  END COMMENT 
LUNSTEAD