Chandrika gets second term

Though Kumaratunga’s vote share is down nearly 11 per cent from 1994, she made it past the half-way mark through a combination of factors: Sympathy after the LTTE’s attempt on her life, a close identification of her opponent with the would-be assassins through state propaganda, and consequently, a consolidation of Sinhalese votes behind a leader who people are convinced is the onlyone to deal firmly with the separatist group.

After the swearing in ceremony, Kumaratunga — her right eye still in a patch — read out a prepared statement, breaking down in tears as she said her victory was not only hers, or her two children’s "whose mother has been spared" but a victory for the entire nation.

However, there was no escaping the fact that it was a mandate totally polarised along ethnic lines, with the main minority community of Sri Lanka rejecting Kumaratunga’s leadership and reposing their trust in Wickremesinghe.

Except in Jaffna where she had a slender lead, in all other Tamil areas including the tea estates of Nuwara Eliya, Wickremesinghe walked away with most of the votes. Perhaps it was in recognition of this that Kumaratunga spoke about Wickremesinghe in conciliatory tones for the first time, a remarkable departure from the invective she has heaped on him and the UNP in the past.

“(Wickremesinghe) must take heart because the very significant support that he and his partycommand can mean one thing only: That the people of this country still intend for him to play a major role in our efforts to forge the new Sri Lanka that stands so close at hand," she said, commiserating with his defeat in her post swearing-in speech.

Kumaratunga said the "size of her victory" was a clear indication that voters wanted both her party and the UNP to share the burden of peace. "This nation has the strength to create two strong parties. I believe that these two strong parties together must use this strength to once again create a nation," she said.

But she went on the warpath against the LTTE. Describing her survival as a `national miracle’, Kumaratunga said as the only leader with the unique distinction of escaping an assassination attempt by the Tamil Tigers, she was also the only one “against whom the entire LTTE terrorist enterprise will fail”.

Indicating that there was going to be no let-up in the war against the Tigers, she said her resolve had been strengthened by the cowardlyattack on her.

In the statement that was both hard-hitting and emotional, she said: “Let all those who aid and abet terror be warned, let those who by act or omission support terror be warned, let those who secretly or openly condone the path of violence by the cowards of the LTTE be warned: The days of terror in this land are numbered, and that number is small."

She invited the Tamil community, especially its youth, to rally behind her to ring peace in Sri Lanka and said all those who doubted her sincerity about this, had only to look at her face. "To all those who have doubted my resolve to lift the curse of hatred and death that has fallen upon our land…the very wounds I bear will answer them that there is no individual on this earth more determined to end this country’s wretched and mindless bloodshed and destruction," she declared.

The Cabinet of ministers was sworn in again today after Kumaratunga’s swearing in. It remains unchanged. Kumaratunga announced she would bring about changes in theCabinet after she had recovered completely.