The Surprise Announcement – It was all part of the ruse!

The cockiness with which this administration behaves was once again bared open by their decision to disband three provincial councils last night, which would mean that elections will be in the offing, perhaps as early as the first week of September to these three Provincial Councils, North Central, Eastern and Sabaragamuwa.

The earlier news, some true some deliberate misinformation, and I am not privy to which one, was that due to the impending severe drought and bad economic conditions, the Govt. will postpone these elections till about March 2013, when things are expected to be a little better! The other point was that the Chief Minister of the North Central had specifically said that they would be postponed, and further, the Muslims had requested a delay due to Ramazan. Further the Muslim Party, SLMC was demanding the Chief Ministerial candidate in advance if they were to go as an alliance.

It is possible that the forecasters were predicting a dire outcome for 2013 that they (Govt.) felt the best course would be to show that the Govt. still has a plebiscite with the majority and has the public on their side, whatever action they expect to undertake on account of the crisis. It was also possible that a petty reason of showing Berty to be a nincompoop was also part of the intention, as he had latterly been sidelined by the Chiefs in Govt. and the Deyata Kirula gravy train was exclusively shared in the South with nothing going to Berty and his henchmen in Anuradhapura. Berty at it turns out was frothing mad and on a tirade against the first family! There is even talk of him joining with the UNP to go their route as a Cheif Ministeriral Candidate. I of course would implore the UNP not to fall into that trap with such inappropriate people.

Be that as it may, it shows the arrogance of power, the inebriation of tyranny, and the absolute control the dictatorship has over its minions to be able to make a sudden and unexpected move such as this, despite the warnings, putting caution to the wind and going for broke.

The cynics have also pointed out that in the event of things not seeming to go their way the vote could be rigged their way, so they have all the power of incumbency to do as they please. After all the Govt. shamefacedly indulges in using all the resources of the state machinery from people to vehicles for election work, a massive power and this time money also to buy the certainty of a vote for them, armed with lists of voters, and numbers and statistics they have built up to ensure a sure win.

We must watch proceedings with caution to learn the art of the inevitable.