Experts predict win for Chandrika

But that may have changed now. quot;This will be a vote from the heart,quot; predicted minister for tourism and civil aviation Dharmasiri Senanayake.Others said that the attack on Kumaratunga, coming with the UNP8217;s close identification with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam LTTE during this election campaign, would finish Ranil Wickremesinghe. quot;Ranil8217;s statements about handing over Chandrika and the north-east to Prabhakaran, are strong circumstantial evidenceof his collusion with the LTTE. People feel very strongly about it, especially after the attack. It8217;s a natural reaction, a human reaction,quot; said industries minister C V Gooneratne.

Dharmalingam Sidhathan, leader of the former militant group PLOTE who is come out in support of Kumaratunga in these elections said quot;no morequot; did the Tamil vote matter in these elections as the Sinhalese majority would rally behind the present president.

He also predicted that Tamils who were planning to vote for Wickremesinghe, may now stay at home out of fear of violence on election day.

What supporters said, political analysts reiterated. quot;Ironically, the LTTE may have helped her to win this election,quot; said Ketheesh Lognathan of the Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Loganathan said LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, who had sent out a strong message to Tamils to vote against Kumaratunga in these elections, may have wanted to ensure victory for Wickremesinghe by eliminating her, but the abortive assassination attempt haddefeated his purpose.

The mood in the UNP camp is sombre but the party is not accepting defeat yet. Wickremesinghe8217;s campaign managers said he had the edge as voters had already made up their minds that Kumaratunga had to go.

At a press conference on Sunday, party general secretary Gamini Athukorlae reminded journalists that after Gamini Dissanayake8217;s assassination in the 1994 campaign, the UNP nominated his widow as the candidate. quot;But we lost. We did not get one sympathy vote,quot; he said.

Kumaratunga had continued her campaign with the promise of opening negotiations with the LTTE, much like Wickremesinghe is doing in this campaign, and had gone on to win that election.

It may help the UNP that there was a bomb attack on one of its meetings as well, just 15 minutes before the attempt on Kumaratunga8217;s life. The party lost a prominent member, retired Major-General Lucky Algama, in that attack, which 12 others and injured 45. Lasantha Wickremetunge, the editor of the pro-UNP weekly The Sunday Leader saidthere were no signs yet of an outpouring of sympathy for Kumaratunga.

quot;When Premadasa, Lalith Athulathmudali and Gamini Dissanayake were killed, hundreds of people flocked to the hospital in spontaneous grief. There is nothing like that this time,quot; he said.