Lanka Govt imposes emergency

COLOMBO, August 4: President Chandrika Kumaratunga on Tuesday imposed an island-wide emergency making way for a postponement of the month...

COLOMBO, August 4: President Chandrika Kumaratunga on Tuesday imposed an island-wide emergency making way for a postponement of the month-end provincial council elections. A short proclamation by Kumaratunga through a gazette extraordinary said the emergency was in 8220;the interests of public security, the protection of public order and the maintenance of supplies and services essential to the life of the community8221;.

Emergency regulations, till now in force in some parts of the island including the north-east and the capital, have now been extended throughout the country. It is expected that the government will now quickly announce the postponement of the elections to five provincial councils scheduled for August 28.

The government had earlier declared that the elections could not be held because it would imply withdrawing thousands of security personnel from the war zone at a crucial stage of the war against the separatist Tamil Tigers.

Such a withdrawal would only help them regroup, the governmentargued. However, this line of reasoning failed to convince the opposition.The government needed the opposition8217;s support to bring about a constitutional amendment for the postponement of the elections.

The only other course of action open to the government was to declare an island-wide emergency. Under powers vested in the office of the President, Kumaratunga can postpone the elections in an emergency without a constitutional amendment.

Significantly, it was Kumaratunga who had declared early in her tenure that the government8217;s powers to change laws governing any aspect of elections by taking recourse to emergency regulations, would be removed.

Nominations for the provincial council elections are over.But the two main political parties had a whiff of the postponement and did not put up any important candidates. Two weeks ago, the United National Party had even halted its campaign as a waste of money and other resources in the light of the imminent postponement of the elections.