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COLOMBO (AFP) - Sri Lanka's minority Muslims have emerged as the most decisive force which could make-or-break President Chandrika Kumaratunga's attempt to form a coalition government in a hung parliament. The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), which contested Tuesday's elections on its own in several districts, but fielded some candidates under the Kumaratunga's People's Alliance (PA), has won at least nine seats. Provisional results indicated that Kumaratunga's PA was five seats short of the magic figure of 113 required to form a one-party government in the 225-member national assembly. Any pull out of SLMC candidates elected under the PA's banner would make it extremely difficult for Kumaratunga to form a government, while on the other hand, the support of the Muslims would give her a comfortable majority. The election commission has delayed announcing the final results amid allegations of widespread ballot rigging and violence in at least 22 polling centers and in the northern district of Kilinochchi. There was virtually no polling in Kilinochchi because of the presence of Tamil Tiger rebels. Kilinochchi is part of the Wanni region, which returned six members of parliament. The SLMC, on the day of the elections, announced it was pulling out of Kumaratunga's PA coalition, which it had helped form in August 1994. However, SLMC sources here said Thursday that they were in negotiations to form a government "in the larger interest of the nation." The SLMC had one cabinet portfolio and three junior positions in the outgoing government. The man who formed the SLMC, M. H. M. Ashraff, died in a helicopter crash on September 16th, minutes after issuing a statement that he was severing ties with Kumaratunga's PA. However, the new leadership tried to mend fences with Kumaratunga, but failed to get the ports minister portfolio Ashraff had held up until his death. Muslims form about 5.5% of the population in the majority Sinhala Buddhist nation of 19.04 million. |
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