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LEAD: Sri Lanka president's party wins local elections+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)COLOMBO, March 31_(Kyodo) _ (EDS: UPDATING) Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse on Friday consolidated his power base with a sweeping lead in local elections in the majority Sinhalese-dominated southern and central parts of the country. In the elections held Thursday for 266 local government bodies including municipal councils and urban councils, the results for 247 councils have been declared, showing that Rajapakse's ruling United People's Freedom Alliance has won 205 councils. The main opposition United National Party has taken only 28 of the councils declared, while the rest went to minor parties. Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake reported a voter turnout of 65 to 70 percent and said the contest was "a good poll despite some shortcomings." "There was violence before and after the elections but we can't say how it affected the outcome," he said. The Marxist People's Liberation Front (JVP), widely considered to have powered Rajapakse's victory in the November presidential election, won only one local council. The JVP had chosen to opt out of the UPFA ticket in an effort to demonstrate its electoral strength independently and fared badly. "The result strengthens Rajapakse's hand in peace negotiations with the Tamil Tigers because the JVP, which takes a hard line Sinhala nationalist stance on this issue, was not able to cash in from that brand of politics," an Asian diplomat said on condition of anonymity. The Buddhist monk party, which also backed Rajapakse in November and fielded its own slate in the elections, was almost totally wiped out, indicating that its Sinhala nationalist position on the ethnic question did not enjoy favor in the electorate. Since winning the presidential election, Rajapakse has softened his stand on the ethnic issue. "The president now has a whip-hand because he can very well dissolve parliament and call new elections for the legislature," the diplomat said. "If the JVP runs on its own, its parliamentary strength will come down sharply." No elections were held in the rebel-held areas of the northeast for security reasons. The elections commissioner has decided to postpone the elections for six months. |