COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office

SRI LANKA 7 MARCH 2012
that of a separate state to one of autonomy in Tamil majority areas. On this issue, the TNA has
clashed with diaspora Tamils, most of whom continue to support full-scale separatism. To the
consternation of diaspora Tamils, the TNA backed Sarath Fonseka in the 2010 presidential
election. However, in the April [2010] election, its representation in parliament dropped from 22
to 14 seats.‖
―The Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which formally dropped its commitment to a separate Tamil
state ahead of the 2010 parliamentary elections, contested 17 local authorities and obtained 76
seats [in the 17 March 2011 local elections].(Jane‘s Sentinel, Country Risk Assessments,
Country Report, Sri Lanka, accessed on 3 February 2012, Internal Affairs, 17 January 2012) 579
United National Party (UNP) http://www.unp.lk/portal/
―The UNP is the largest party within the United National Front coalition, and the single largest
party in the Sri Lankan Parliament.‖
―[After being in power for 17 years between 1977 and 1994] The UNP was returned to power in
2001 following a no-confidence motion in the SLFP government amid a grave economic
downturn. The party was returned to power on a platform of economic liberalisation and a
renewal in the peace process, signing a ceasefire agreement with the LTTE in February 2002.
However, prime minister Wickremasinghe maintained an uneasy relationship with president
Kumaratunga of the SLFP, with the prime minister branded a 'traitor' by the president.
―These difficulties harmed the UNP's electoral chances, with the party losing 27 seats. Although
the UNP remained the party with the largest share of seats in the parliament, a coalition led by
the SLFP, the United People's Freedom Alliance, meant the UNP returned to opposition.
Wickremasinghe subsequently failed to win the November 2005 presidential election, largely
owing to a LTTE boycott. The UNP was damaged by its association with the failed Norwegianmediated
Ceasefire Agreement (CFA), which was widely regarded as been heavily biased
towards the LTTE. Wickremasinghe did not put himself forward as the UNF candidate in the
2010 presidential election and endorsed Fonseka as the UNP candidate. In the April [2010]
election, the UNP gained less than 30 per cent of the vote, a result that was regarded as a
disaster [The party obtained 60 seats coming second. (Official website of the Department of
Elections, Parliamentary General Election – 2010, Composition of Parliament 580 , accessed on 2
June 2010)]. The marginalisation of the party continued into 2011 when it campaigned alone in
233 local authorities and only managed to obtain 892 seats nationwide. (Jane‘s Sentinel,
Country Risk Assessments, Country Report, Sri Lanka, accessed on 3 February 2012, Internal
Affairs, 17 January 2012) 581
―In the parliamentary election, four months later, the opposition United National Front, which
included the UNP, was trounced by the UPFA, securing a mere 60 parliamentary seats. The
UNP did poorly in the March 2011 local elections, winning control of just nine local authorities
compared to the 205 won by the UPFA. In the July and October [2011] rounds of the elections,
579 Jane’s Sentinel Country Risk Assessments, Country Report, Sri Lanka,
http://sentinel.janes.com/docs/sentinel/SASS_country.jsp?Prod_Name=SASS&Sent_Country=Sri%20La
nka& [subscription only] accessed on 3 February 2012, Internal Affairs, 17 January 2012
580 Sri Lanka Department of Elections, Result of Parliamentary General Election April 2010,
http://www.slelections.gov.lk/parliamentary_elections/AICOM.html, date accessed 2 June 2010
581 Jane’s Sentinel Country Risk Assessments, Country Report, Sri Lanka,
http://sentinel.janes.com/docs/sentinel/SASS_country.jsp?Prod_Name=SASS&Sent_Country=Sri%20La
nka& [subscription only] accessed on 3 February 2012, Internal Affairs, 17 January 2012
230 The main text of this COI Report contains the most up to date publicly available information as at 3 February 2012.
Further brief information on recent events and reports has been provided in the Latest News section
to 2 March 2012.