LG elections and leadership of local bodies

The local government elections have been held. The National People's Power (NPP) emerged overall winners as predicted in these columns on polling day. As we forecast, the NPP victory was not as overwhelming as their victory during the parliamentary elections. Be that as it may -- the NPP won.

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The NPP's rivals Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), the United National Party (UNP), the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and the Sarvajana Balaya (SB) all contested independent of each other. They also condemned each other with vigour and vitality. They believed that they could independently, while crossing swords with each other and the president's party, defeat the NPP/JVP combination which swept into power at the national level six to seven months earlier.

Why these political parties believed that the same people who had only recently rejected them would vote them into power again, remains a mystery. Surely these political entities could not have believed that in the space of six short months, the people would have forgotten the misdeeds they committed since independence.

Whether it be in the north, south, east or west of the country, the dream of these political outfits was not to be. The NPP/JVP emerged clear winners in 150 local bodies. Though having won most seats in a total of 266 local bodies, the numbers won by the NPP are not sufficient to form their own administration.