Sarath Fonseka letter to Sri Lanka Elections Commission

(January 27, Colombo - Lanka Polity) Excerpts of a letter by Gen Sarath Fonseka to Sri Lanka's Elections Commission, following his defeat in the presidential poll. The letter has been translated from Sinhala.


Dear commissioner of elections. Before and after handing over the nomination papers, President Rajapaksa's election campaign has made great use of state resources.
Further, there have been threats, intimidation and accusations levelled against me. Many of my supporters were intimidated.

The government engaged in a campaign abusing state media and state resources to accuse me of being a foreign agent and a traitor.
Further, 10 security force personnel provided to me as a result of serious threats to my life were withdrawn.

'Handcuffed'

They were allowed to stay until after the election after your intervention. However, after the results were announced, this morning they were called back to the army police unit.

When they left to report at the army police, under the orders of the head of the army police unit, they were arrested in front of the hotel I am staying in, handcuffed and ordered to kneel down on the street.
I have also received information that the government is planning to arrest me.

The army personnel who are stationed in front of the hotel also tried a few times to forcefully enter the hotel.
I humbly request you to order the inspector general of police and other appropriate authorities to take appropriate security measures to protect my life and to protect my freedom of movement
.

The result of the presidential of Sri Lanka needs to be rejected

(January 26, Colombo - Lanka Polity) It is a dire need to reject the result of the 2010 presidential of Sri Lanka irrespective of whomever the winner. 

Polls rigging and violence can be less in Sinhala dominated areas. The ruling party lacked support for polls rigging at the grassroots level. There were people to vote to Rajapaksa but few were ready to engage in violence before a probable loss.  

However, the government which was launching a racist campaign for the President Mahinda Rajapaksa during the final week was unashamed to block transport to the Northern Province internally displaced persons to travel to their villages to cast their vote. There was a rumor earlier that most of the buses permitted to ply on the newly opened A-9 highway either belonged to a senior government official with political patronage or paying ransom to him. Anyhow, the buses pledged for the IDPs to travel to Jaffna have been mysteriously disappeared, says opposition member of parliament Vijitha Herath. The MP was even detained by police for few hours as he attempted to address the voter grievances and solve the transport issue. Many more frauds of this sort can be expected to be reported in the coming hours. 

However, real rigging took place prior to the election. The President and his campaigners were daring to break all election regulations and to manipulate almost all the public property for Mahinda Rajapaksa's campaign. This went on to the extent that the Election Commissioner also had to annul the mandate of the competent authority he appointed to monitor state media. Ministry secretaries and other department heads disregarded more than 100 circulars issued by the election Commissioner. The poor public official eventually lamented about the situation and said he would resign following the presidential poll. 

Amidst this situation too, the election is so tense that opposition candidate Sarath Fonseka has a chance to win. Although, Mahinda Rajapaksa wins the election, he needs to achieve at least 60% of votes to proclaim it a real victory since he manipulated all state his powers to block the opposition.

This election is not a fair one in any sense. We, as democratic citizens of this country need to reject its result irrespective of whatever the result. We need to fight for free and fair elections. Elections of this sort must be rejected. The perpetrators of the malpractices must be brought to books and their civil rights should be suspended.

Mediate to stop abuse of public property in Sri Lanka president's campaign for re-election -Opposition

(December 08, Colombo - Lanka Polity) The United National Front of Sri Lanka urges the Election Commissioner Dayananda Disanayaka to use the powers vested in him to curb the misuse of state powers and property in the campaign of ruling party candidate Mahinda Rajapakse.

The abuse of government property is in the peak with beginning of the presidential election. The state services, police and the state-owned media are the mostly misused sectors. The misuse of state property ranges from the photocopier belonged to the local government authority to  forks and spoons of the Temple Trees, the official residence of the President. The numerous parties in Temple Trees agenda are also abuses of public property. Further, various kinds of opening ceremonies are also abuses of powers since they are timed for political propaganda.

Recruitment, transfers and promotions etc. of the public officials are suspended when an election is underway in line with the election regulations. However, the government blatantly violates these laws to manipulate state powers for political purposes. The government forces the Ministry secretaries to allocate funds to recruit persons to use them in election campaigns. The using of ministry allocated vehicles and fuel for the political propaganda is another major abuse and corruption.

"According to the 17th amendment, the Election Commissioner must take action to curb abuse of public property," points out the United National Front. "The constitution has granted powers to the Election Commissioner to take action if any political party, person or independent group misuses the state property Further the election commissioner has powers to take action on police, state media and state services."

The United National Front urges the Election Commissioner to take actions against the abuse of state powers and property to guarantee a free and fare election  United National Front is inviting to all the political parties, civil society and non governmental organization to act to stop the corruption of current government. 

Rs. 11.2 million wasted to remove illegal publicity materials in five elections - Sri Lanka Election Commissioner

(August 07, 2009 -Lanka Polity) Sri Lanka Commissioner of Elections Dayananda Dishanayaka said at an election-eve press conference that his department spent Rs. 11.2 million to remove the illegal publicity material like posters, banners, hoardings etc. in five past elections in vain.

He said further allocations would not be granted to police since they did not perform the job well and the department funds were wasted.

The Election Commissioner leveled a scathing attack at the election system of the country that he said the people with money and muscle power are advantaged. Political ethics would not improve until the current election system was changed, he added.

Sri Lanka is to hold elections for the Uva Provincial Council, Jaffna Municipal Council and Vavuniya Urban Council tomorrow.