No hint of snap polls in Chandrika's I-Day speech

Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga (R) and her arch rival Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe attend the country's independence day celebrations in Colombo yesterday. For the first time in six years, the military was publicly parading its weaponry in celebrations at Colombo's Independence Square where Sri Lanka, then known as Ceylon, was granted independence from Britain in 1948.. PHOTO: AFP

When the entire country was wondering whether she would announce snap polls to resolve the deep differences between her and Prime Minister Ranil Wickreme-singhe, Kumaratunga called for the sinking of political and personal differences and the adoption of a consensual and collective approach towards the ethnic conflict in order to secure a lasting and honourable peace.

Though the President did not explicitly mention the much talked about possibility of snap elections, it was clear that she did not want anything that would divide the country further when the climate seemed to be conducive for a peaceful settlement.

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Kumaratunga did not attack the United National Front (UNF) government led by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. Instead, she noted with satisfaction that all forces in South Sri Lanka, and the LTTE too, were for peace and a negotiated settlement of the ethnic conflict. She said that this provided a golden opportunity for making united efforts to find a peaceful solution.

"This is one moment, as we have never seen before, in post independent Sri Lanka, when all political forces and their leaders seem to agree on one policy for the resolution of the problem that has dogged us for half a century. If we are reap productive results from this golden opportunity, we must learn to set aside considerations of a narrow and personal nature," she said.