Govt, opposition, misuse state property

POLL 2010: Presidency

By Rathindra Kuruwita

With less than 10 days to go before the Presidential election it seems that the person who is supposed to have total control over elections, Elections Commissioner, is losing all control over the proceedings. Not only did the state media outlets continue to ignore the directives of the Competent Authority (CA) but also the Elections Commissioner’s directives banning State sponsored functions that are used for election propaganda were ignored by the government.
EC tried to remove the CA. Although, the Competent Authority was appointed to monitor and control the state media both the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC) and the Sri Lankan Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) have been undermining his authority. This week SLRC gave live coverage to the unveiling of the “Mahinda Chinthana 2” for over two hours last Tuesday (12th) disregarding the CA’s verdict, that is against the election laws.
The Election Commissioner expressed his displeasure of the situation and threatened to remove the Competent Authority Jayampathi Hettiarachchi from the post at the party secretaries meeting on the same day. “The Elections Commissioner is disgusted with the situation. He was ready to remove Mr. Hettiarachchi but many political parties as well as election monitoring bodies have asked the Commissioner to let Hettiarachchi continue,” said a department source.
This means that the election process has moved beyond the Election Commissioner’s control, claim Keerthi Tennakoon, Media Spokesman for Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE.) “The Elections Commissioner has given out various orders and directives but the Government has ignored them. If you look at the SLBC and the SLRC, it is evident that they are breaking all the accepted media ethics.” Meanwhile Executive Director of Peoples Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFERAL,) Rohana Hettiarachchi claimed that the non implementation of the 17th amendment and the independent commissions has made it impossible for the Commissioner to conduct a free and fair election.

An eventful postal voting session

Raising widespread fears of mass scale malpractice on January 26 - election day, polls monitors recorded 19 violations of election law during the postal voting last week.
“Everyone knows each other and voting takes place in front of your boss. And because those who vote are government servants they know the procedure, rules and regulations. Therefore postal voting takes place without incident,” said Rohana Hettiarachchi. “But this time it was not the case.”
The 19 instances of election law violations include two cases of impersonation reported from Matale, two instances of influencing, in police stations and three instances where the polling agents were not given access to polling stations in military bases.
“Two teachers , M. G Thilakarathne of Bastian school in Nawalakanda and S. Bandara of Dankanda Vidyalaya, were impersonated in Matale which is, unheard of during postal voting, since voting takes place in front of your boss. How can two others impersonate these two teachers is beyond me,” said Keerthi Tennakoon. “Also in Raththota Police Station, the OIC has asked his juniors to show him the ballot paper before casting their vote and when several of his officers refused to do so he has threatened them with transfer. When one officer threatened to take legal action he was transferred to another station but we notified the Elections Commissioner and he took action to stop this yesterday,” he added.
The OIC of Raththota Police station has been openly supporting the UPFA from the start of campaign and had turned the police station into a UPFA campaign office, Tennakoon said. “The problem is that the OIC knows he is breaking the election laws when he forces his juniors to reveal whom they vote for. The thing is that it is these OICs who will run the election. If they are willing to force their juniors I think they will ensure that this will be anything but a free and fair election,” he said.
In several military establishments, in the Anuradhapura Gajaba camp and two military bases in Trincomalee, the polling agents of the UNP and the JVP were not allowed to enter. The Elections Commissioner had to step in and threaten the authorities that he will annul the votes unless the polling agents are allowed inside.
Also several bus depots in which voting took place were decorated in blue and UPFA election propaganda was displayed in violation of the election laws, which demand that the surrounding area to be clear of any propaganda. “Bus depots in Welisara, Kiniya, Batticaloa, Ratnapura, Puttlam and Badulla were decorated with UPFA election propaganda when voting took place,” the CaFFE spokesman said. “The Election Commissioner invited all deputy and assistant commissioners of all districts yesterday to talk about the problems in their areas and what they can do to sort this out.”

How can anyone say that it is leading in the postal vote?

After the end of the postal voting the government claimed that they have taken the lead in postal voting. Ministers Johnston Fernando and Lakshman Yapa Abeywardane claimed that the UPFA has received the highest number of votes and even issued statements to media stating that inside sources have notified them that the government is leading the postal votes.
Since the postal vote is only counted on the day of the election many wondered how the ministers can make such a claim and whether the government is tampering with the postal vote.
“How can they make such an absurd statement? May be they are trying to boost the morale of the people, but it also raises questions whether the government has access to the votes cast.” PAFFERAL Executive Director said.
Meanwhile Assistant Commissioner W. P Sumanasiri claimed that no one can make such claims since the votes are not counted until the 26th. “No one knows who voted and for whom. We know for sure that no one has access to such information. I can assure you that such statements are absurd,” he said.

Increase in election violence

At the beginning of the Presidential election many predicted that blood will be shed along the way. And those predictions came true on January 12th when 62 year old Kusumawathi Kurupuarrachchi was killed when gunman who arrived on a motor bike fired at a bus transporting supporters of common opposition candidate General Sarath Fonseka in Ranna, Tangalle in the Southern province. Another 10 people were injured in the attack.
On Friday three people were injured when a group of people travelling to participate at a rally of Common Opposition Candidate Gen. Sarath Fonseka at Daladagama, Kurunegala District was shot at by unknown gunmen. Also several serious clashes broke out during the week between the two sides. The two sides clashed near the Polonnaruwa bus stand injuring four people of the UPFA and on Friday UNP Kolonnawa Municipal Councillors Janaka Kuruwita and Chithra Dias were assaulted by a group who arrived with UPFA Provincial Councillor, Duminda Silva damaged their houses too.
“We are seeing this kind of violence for the first time after the infamous Wayamba (North Western) Provincial Council election in 1999. Everyday 20-35 incidents of violence are being reported and over 100 people have been hospitalized. I think all the election monitoring bodies are worried about this trend and all of us, PAFFERAL, CaFFE, CMEV are all worried about this,” Rohana Hettiarachchi said. “We know that in the last two weeks, violence will increase by 200-400%. Therefore, things don’t seem very good,” he added.

Dine with anyone?

President Rajapaksa invited high ranking officers from leading private institutions for Dinner at Temple Trees on January 13th. The event was hurriedly organized as a response to General Sarath Fonseka meeting the business community and, many individuals were notified about the event only on that day. Some companies even made the attendance mandatory for everyone above Assistant Vice President level.
The President met government sector Accountants in the Kandy district yesterday at his official residence in the hill capitol. Network for Election Monitoring (NEM IHR) Executive Director, Uditha Gunasekara told LAKBIMAnEWS that this was organized by several high ranking government servants in Kandy.
“We sent a letter to the Election Commissioner asking him to take immediate action to prevent this and to remove them from election duties if the organizers go ahead as planned,” Gunasekara said.
Meanwhile, Transparency International (TI)also recorded several incidents where the president entertained guests at his various residences breaching the election law. In their second report TI claimed that apart from being an abuse of state resources, these events violate the Section 77 of the Presidential Elections Act No. 15 of 1981.
The report also claimed that the official residence of the Leader of the Opposition is used for election propaganda work such as press briefings, meetings, distribution of leaflets and entertaining media personnel. Since the official residence of the Opposition Leader is state property, conducting election propaganda work is a breach of election law. The report highlights two examples of such abuse.
1. On 28th December 2009 a press conference was held at the official residence of the Leader of the Opposition headed by Mr. Lakshman Kiriella M.P.
2. Another press briefing was held on 30th December 2009 at the same residence headed by Mr. Lakshman Kiriella M.P
Minister of Export Development, Cegu Isadeen extended his support to Common Candidate Gen. Sarath Fonseka on Friday. Meanwhile Matara Mayor Upul Nishantha, a SLFP organizer for the Matara District, extended support to General Fonseka Yesterday. Mayor Upul Nishantha claimed that his crossing over would rally more support for General Fonseka in the Matara district.