ABSTRACT
In early 2001 Rauf Hakeem and his Sri Lanka Muslim Congress left the People’s Alliance (PA) coalition, which had governed since 1994, and joined the opposition UNP seeking a separate Muslim administrative district in the Eastern Province. It instigated the defection of some leading government ministers. As a result, the PA government lost its parliamentary majority, parliament was dissolved, and new elections were held on 5 December 2001.
