Text & pics by Maheesha Mudugamuwa reporting from the Southern Province The two main presidential candidates – Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna’s (SLPP) Gotabaya Rajapaksa and New Democratic Front’s (NDF) Sajith Premadasa – will be seeking a morale-boosting victory in the Southern Province at the 16 November presidential election. Both Rajapaksa and Premadasa are from the South and a win for either candidate in the South will give them the confidence that they have a strong foothold in their hometown. The Southern Province consists of three electoral districts; namely Galle, Matara, and Hambantota. The three districts are considered to be strongholds of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) as voters’ political stance remained unchanged from the time former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga secured a landslide victory in 1994 until the 2018 local government (LG) election. At the 2018 LG polls, the new political party formed with the blessings of former SLFP Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa secured a victory in the three districts; almost all those who voted for the SLPP were SLFPers, which means that there was no significant change in the SLFP voter base over the years. At the 2015 presidential election, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa contested under the banner of the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and gained 55.64%, 57.81%, and 63.02% of the polled votes from the Galle, Matara, and Hambantota Districts, respectively, while the Opposition-backed common candidate Maithripala Sirisena secured 43.37%, 41.24%, and 35.93%, respectively. Similarly, the LG polls held in 2018 did not demonstrate any significant diversions in Rajapaksa’s voter base with the victory secured by the SLPP in the three districts, despite the SLFP contesting as a separate political party. While Hambantota is the hometown of SLPP presidential candidate Rajapaksa, it is also the electoral district of NDF presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa. For Rajapaksa, Hambantota is where he was born and bred and it is where his two elder brothers – Chamal and Mahinda – resided. In almost all the previous elections, the Rajapaksas secured the majority in the District. The deep family ties between the Rajapaksas and the Hambantota residents have made the voter base in Hambantota favourable towards Rajapaksa, whereas for Premadasa, capturing Hambantota is a difficult objective put forward by his party. Without having any family backing in the District, Premadasa has always been neck-to-neck with the Rajapaksas in Hambantota at elections held in the past. Dissecting the Southern Province In this context, The Sunday Morning visited the Southern Province last week to ascertain whether there was any change in the sentiments of the people in the area, especially as the two main leaders are from the same district. The Southern Province is an important tea producer. Its farmers also grow minor export crops such as spices that are exported around the world. The fishing industry and tourism are other sources of income for the province. As per Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) data, in 2015, the Southern Province’s GDP amounted to Rs. 1,106 billion and contributed to 10.1% of Sri Lanka’s GDP. The agricultural sector made Rs. 153,354 million; industries, Rs. 277,532 million; and services, Rs. 646,286 million in 2015. As per Department of Census and Statistics data, the agricultural sector employs 33.5% of the working population, while 25.5% work in the industry sector and 41% in the services sector. The mean income per household per month is Rs. 41,834 and the mean income per capita per month is Rs. 10,973 as per the Household and Income Survey 2012/13. The unemployment rate in 2017 was 5% while the poverty rate in 2013 was 7.7%. After a hectic two-day journey throughout the Uva Province, observing pre-election heat and the people’s sentiments, The Sunday Morning reached Tissamaharama, fondly known as Tissa, which is the first southern electorate after crossing Monaragala along the Buttala-Sella Kataragama Road via Block 5 of Yala National Park. Hambantota consists of only four polling divisions; namely, Mulkirigala, Beliatta, Tangalle, and Tissamaharama with 485,786 registered voters as per 2018 data. Hambantota is considered the least populated district in the province. Being a leftist electorate, Tissamaharama also used to be a JVP stronghold and so Hambantota plays a vital role in shaping the results of the upcoming presidential election. Anyone who recently visited Tissamaharama might have noticed that it is not the same Tissamaharama the people knew earlier, as the small township deep in the South has transformed into a busy tourist destination with major tourist hotels booming in the area. The Sunday Morning first spoke to former Tissamaharama Pradeshiya Sabha (PS) Chairman Harsha Jayaweera. Reps’ sentiments split Jayaweera, being a hardcore Rajapaksa supporter, claimed that the majority of votes in Tissamaharama would go to Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the SLPP presidential hopeful, despite a number of houses and subsidies provided by Sajith Premadasa, the NDF presidential candidate. “The last four-and-a-half years have been a living nightmare for many of Tissamaharama’s residents. We rarely saw any development projects in the area and the economic situation of the residents have been worsened,” he said. “The farmers lost the fertiliser subsidy and therefore are facing huge difficulties when it comes to paddy cultivation. Another major issue in this area is water scarcity. As a solution to the water issue, we planned a mega water project which was abandoned by the present Government. The residents in this area are still suffering because of the delay in implementing the water project. Even though the Water Board provides Tissamaharama’s residents with purified tap water, the water quality is low,” Jayaweera added. Commenting on the housing projects conducted by Premadasa as the Housing Minister, Jayaweera alleged that almost all the houses had been provided only for United National Party (UNP) supporters in the province. No matter what has been said by the current regime, this is the reality of Tissamaharama, he stressed. Meanwhile, Tissamaharama PS Opposition Leader K.H. Gamini told The Sunday Morning: “After Sajith Premadasa was nominated as the presidential candidate, we have seen massive support among the UNP supporters in the Hambantota District. “Premadasa, as the Housing Minister, has done massive development in the region. New houses had been donated to homeless people in Tissamaharama and those who don’t have houses at present are only the ones who got married recently. “Unlike the Rajapaksas, Premadasa has maintained a very close relationship with the villagers and his supporters. His social service was not just extended to his party supporters but to everyone in the region. Therefore, there are new supporters as well. Even now, we are canvassing door-to-door. Therefore, we are very confident of Premadasa’s victory at the upcoming presidential election.” Voter sentiment 34-year-old Merchant Navy Officer Lahiru Kurukulasooriya, who works in Hambantota, had a different perspective. “Irrespective of whoever wins the election, we have to earn for ourselves. None of our family members have ever benefited from any party. But as citizens, we should think about the country and our security. “After winning the war in 2009, we lived freely, but suddenly in April, we started to feel the fear again. We started to live with that fear and even now, we have doubts as to whether we are 100% safe. “Therefore, for me and my family, we will think about the country at the upcoming presidential election and will vote for the candidate we can trust to keep us safe in the years to come,” he said. Thilanka Akalanka, a young hotelier and safari jeep owner in Debarawewa, had a different story to share. According to him, the tourism sector in the South has been neglected over the last four-and-a-half years with the Government lacking development plans to improve the sector, which has already generated a large amount of direct and indirect employment opportunities in Hambantota. He said that during the last four-and-a-half years, they saw a slight reduction of tourist arrivals to Yala; it is around a 6% reduction, and with the Easter attack, the situation worsened. “A number of small, medium, and large-scale hoteliers are now in big trouble. We all have invested millions of rupees to build luxury hotels and with the downward trend in the sector, we can’t survive. The only thing left for us is to sell all these properties and migrate to some other country,” he stressed. Lasith Wiriththamulla, father of three from Tangalle, said the cost of living had increased drastically over the past few years. “With three schoolgoing children, we rarely manage to cover our daily expenses. The situation is getting worse and we all need an immediate solution. During the last four-and-a-half years, we have seen only political games being played. There was no stability, no accountability, and no one to take responsibility. Therefore, we need a stable government. We need a life other than politics,” he said. Meanwhile, UNPer Jothimuni Nandasiri in Beliatta, who contested for the pradeshiya sabha elections previously, claimed that Premadasa had provided employment opportunities for many people. “Therefore, this time, the people will consider Sajith Premadasa as their next leader and will vote for him,” he added. Meanwhile, Ranil Wickramarachchi from Beliatta is very confident that Sajith Premadasa will win the upcoming presidential election. He sees a rapid conversion of Rajapaksa’s voters to Premadasa in Beliatta and Hambantota. “A number of UNP supporters who were staying away from actively participating in politics over the past years have now come back to the party and started campaigning for Premadasa.” The southern tip Next, The Sunday Morning reached Matara, the commercial city of the Matara District. The Matara District consists of seven polling divisions; namely, Akuressa, Kamburupitiya, Devinuwara, Matara, Weligama, Deniyaya, and Hakmana with 652,417 registered voters as per 2018 data. Matara has the second highest voter base in the province. The District is divided into 16 divisional secretariats (DS). The DS divisions are further subdivided into 650 grama niladhari (GN) divisions with 1,658 villages. Even though the Matara District as a whole is more of a leftist district, 2015 Opposition candidate Maithripala Sirisena secured a victory in the Matara polling division by obtaining 50.47% of the votes as against Mahinda Rajapaksa who could only obtain 48.96%. The pre-election situation in Matara seems to be calmer than that of Hambantota. The residents are busy with their day-to-day activities and only a few posters and cut-outs of both major candidates can be seen in and around the city. Salith Damayantha, a businessman in Kekanadura, told The Sunday Morning that apart from those who actively engage in politics, the others were not interested in it. “What we have seen over the years is that the politicians are struggling to secure their power. I really doubt that they are aware of the issues faced by the general public. It’s like we’re watching a staged drama. They fight in front of the cameras, but happily attend each other’s functions,” he stressed. “Therefore, this time, we will think twice before we cast our vote,” he stressed. Another resident from Matara, Laksitha Malwenna, who introduced himself as an independent voter, said politics in the country should be changed and people should be more vigilant about the persons they vote for. “Once you make a decision, it cannot be revised. Whether we like it or not, we will have to bear the outcome,” he stressed. “Why do we elect representatives?” he questioned. “To represent the public. And they are there to serve us. But what happens in the end? We have to beg them to do our work. None of the politicians I’ve voted for have done anything for the general public without expecting anything in return. I personally know that they have given jobs to their supporters and most of the government jobs that were provided were given on political recommendations,” Malwenna noted. “Everyone should be more vigilant when voting their leaders in. Although this is not an election where we vote MPs in, if the leader is backed by the same set of corrupt politicians, there is no point in voting for that person,” he continued. Retired Samurdhi Officer M.H. Thilakaratne (59) from Akuressa said the residents in Akuressa and the adjoining villages were in real economic difficulty due to the lack of support from the Government towards paddy and tea cultivation in the area. Paddy and tea are the main cultivations in Akuressa and farmers are in real trouble without fertiliser and subsidies, he stressed. “The majority of our farmers have given up on paddy cultivation and some are struggling with tea. We don’t get a good market price for a kilo of tea leaves,” Thilakaratne lamented. Galle’s voter base At the last presidential election, Opposition candidate Maithripala Sirisena secured more than 60% of the votes in the Galle polling division in the Galle District whereas Mahinda Rajapaksa secured only around 36% of the votes. Galle is also similar to Matara, wherein the majority of the urban vote goes to the UNP while the rural vote is secured by the Rajapaksas. Galle consists of 10 polling divisions; namely, Akmeemana, Ambalangoda, Baddegama, Balapitiya, Benthara-Elpitiya, Galle, Habaraduwa, Hiniduma, Karandeniya, and Ratgama with a total of 858,749 registered voters as per 2018 data, which is the highest in the province. According to the Department of Census and Statistics, 93% of the population in the Galle District are Buddhists while 4.7% are Muslim, 1.5% Hindu, and 0.9% Christian. Speaking to The Sunday Morning, Asanka Nayanajith, a 35-year-old businessman in Wackwella in the Galle District, said: “The tea industry in the South is dying. It has been a really difficult task for the planters to buy fertiliser and without it, the harvest is at its lowest. And during the last few years, the price of a kilo of tea leaves had also gone down. Even at present, there is no proper mechanism to improve tea cultivation. “Not just tea, the prices of pepper and cinnamon have also gone down. Even though pepper cultivation is not popular in the region, there are small-scale pepper farmers. “In truth, the prices of all the spices have dropped and we’ve rarely seen any development in the last few years. Therefore, the situation in the South, especially in the Galle District, is terrible,” he stressed. “We need change, a government change. Without a change, we don’t see any future growth. Therefore, this time, we will vote for change,” Nayanajith said. Another UNPer from Balapitiya, Dasun Wijesinghe, turned out to be a JVP supporter this time around, and had a different opinion about the upcoming presidential election. “Over the years, we have been voting for either the UNP or the SLFP; take myself as an example, I have been engaging in active politics as a UNP supporter for years. But the things that have happened within the party during the last few years cannot be accepted,” Wijesinghe explained. “I’ve been voting for the UNP for years but nothing changed. Similarly, when the majority of the Galle District voted for Rajapaksa, nothing changed. There was only corruption. “When you look at the UNP stage today, the number one crooks are on stage together with Sajith Premadasa. How do we trust him to make the country free of corruption with that same bunch of crooks? This is the irony. “We should at least give one chance to the JVP and see whether they can deliver or not. Just because the JVP had a bitter past, it doesn’t mean that they are not suitable to run the country,” he said. The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) is successfully conducting all election campaigns in the Southern Province. We expect to meet all the citizens in the province in person and therefore have planned a number of grassroots-level campaigns for an effective election campaign. The SLPP voters are very confident and so is the party. Here in the Southern Province, we are very confident that the SLPP will secure more than 70% of the votes Mahinda Yapa Abeywardene Here in the Southern Province, there is a good trend for Sajith Premadasa. As of now, we have completed a number of meetings in the province and there are several other meetings planned in the future as well. We are doing a good grassroots-level campaign and the people’s sentiments have changed and the majority of them seem to be very confident of Premadasa’s victory Manusha Nanayakkara