Poll marred by serious violations-CMEV

The Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV), one of the groups which monitored the elections, said that the poll was marred by serious election violations and a significant number of polling booths were affected.

The CMEV is yet to release its final report, but in its preliminary report on the events on polling day it has noted that 'systematic impersonations and ballot stuffing had taken place'.

'The results of this election have been irredeemably compromised in certain electorates', it said.

The election was 'marred by serious election violations, systematic impersonation and ballot stuffing, violence against and intimidation of voters, officials and monitors alike and the abuse of state machinery and resources, in a significant number of polling centres throughout the country', it said.

The CMEV's evaluation is based on the reports submitted by local monitors in the field, international observers, police complaints and reports received from the public as well as political parties and organisations, it said.

The CMEV has assessed that the result of this election has been irredeemably compromised in the following electorates:

North Western Province: Six electoral divisions in the Kurunegala District - Hiriyala, Mawathagama, Galgamuwa, Wariyapola, Elagiriya and Kurunegala. Two electoral divisions in the Puttalam District - Anamaduwa and Chilaw.

Western Province: Two electoral divisions in the Gampaha District - Attanagalla and Katana. Seven electoral divisions in the Colombo District - Colombo North, Borella, Colombo East, Dehiwela, Ratmalana, Kolonnawa and Kotte.

North Central Province: Three electoral divisions in the Anuradhapura District - Kalawewa, Mihintale and Kekirawa.

Central Province: Six electoral divisions in the Kandy District - Galagedera, Gampola, Harispattuwa, Hewaheta, Nawalapitiya and Patha Dumbara. One electoral division in the Matale District - Dambulla. One electoral division in the Nuwara Eliya District - Hanguranketa.

Sabaragamuwa Province: Three electoral divisions in the Kegalle District - Aranayake, Rambukkana and Deraniyagala. One electoral division in the Ratnapura District - Ratnapura.

Southern Province: One electoral division in the Hambantota District - Beliatta.

Uva Province: Two electoral divisions in the Badulla District - Hali Ela and Mahiyangana.

North-East Province: The election in the entire North-East Province should be nullified and a fresh occasion provided to the people in these areas to exercise their sovereign right to vote. Not only were over 200 polling centres removed from the poll with no warning or adequate alternative arrangements made, it is also clear that the minimum ground conditions to ensure a free and fair vote were unavailable in many other areas as well.

In summary, of the 161 electoral divisions, the CMEV holds that the situation on election day in 59 was such that renders the outcome, whatever it may be, unacceptable (24 in the North-East and 35 as described above). This means that for over a third of the country the 1999 Presidential Election was a less than satisfactory exercise in democracy.

The CMEV acknowledges that in approximately half of the island, for the most part, the election was relatively peaceful, though here too incidents of pre-election and election-day violence prevailed.

However, the general climate of nationwide violence was not conducive to the unfettered exercise of the franchise, with a significant number of incidents of shooting and/or bomb throwing at and around polling centres, with at least three murders and over a hundred people injured on election-day. Among those under attack were election monitors and observers, both local and international (to a lesser extent), which was a first on this scale and magnitude for Sri Lanka.

EPDP says Tamil vote was vital

By S. S. Selvanayagam

EPDP leader Douglas Devananda has refuted the claim SLMC leader M.H.M.Ashraff made to the effect that the deciding factor in the Presidential polls was Muslim votes.

Mr. Devananda who threw his full weight behind the incumbent President Chandrika Kumaratunga particularly in the Jaffna peninsula in the Presidential polls told The Sunday Times that if Ms. Kumaratunga failed to garner 95,000 Tamil votes she would have had to go for a second count.

Taking objection to Mr. Ashraff's claim, Mr. Devananda posed a question as to how all the votes that were in favour of the President could be SLMC votes.

He maintained the votes of all communities had gone to give the President a victory in the first count. Responding to Mr. Ashraff's query on the percentage of Tamil voters, Mr. Devananda said the 95,000 Tamil votes the President got had come not only from the EPDP supporters but from all Tamil parties.

If this figure would have voted against Chandrika Kumaratunga, she would have gone for a second count, he contended.

He said his party braved adverse conditions because of the LTTE's double standards in the East and the North.

He said that though they considered the North and East as a single unit politically, as far as the scenario in the last election is concerned they had to see it as two units.

The LTTE has influence in the East whereas it is not so in the North. The LTTE asked the populace in the East to vote in support of Mr. Wickremesinghe while in the North it asked them not to vote, he said.

Ms. Kumaratunga secured 52,043 votes in the Jaffna district, 58,975 in the Batticaloa district, 56,691, in the Trincomalee district and 16,202 in the Wanni district with the total accumulation of 124,936.

Kudos for Kamburupitiya

A welcome example of bi-partisan politics with minimum election expenditure filters from Kamburupitiya in the Matara district.

On the invitation of the PA organiser for Kamburupitiya, Deputy Minister of Cultural Affairs Dallas Alahapperuma, all organisers of the main political parties — the PA, UNP and the JVP — operated from a common election office during the election campaign.

According to independent election monitoring groups, Kamburupitiya had also remained incident-free and devoid of the physical manifestations of a battle for power. Reports said there were no pandals, cut-outs and banners in the area.

Residents claimed that the main party organisers appealed to villagers not to engage in violence during the campaign.

Several monitors expressed their satisfactioin over the conduct of the poll by all parties in the Kamburupitiya electorate.

Mr Alahapperuma told The Sunday Times that the cost control programme adopted by him enabled him to limit campaign expenditure to Rs. 38,000 and that the infamous 'pissu pusa' poster which sought to condemn the opposition leader was not pasted in Kamburupitiya.

Marginal increase in spoilt votes

By Shelani de Silva

Despite campaigns to encourage people to spoil their votes, the increase in the number of spoilt votes this time was only marginal, an Elections Department official said.

The total rejected votes in 1994 and 1999 were 1.97% and 2.31% respectively.

"We made maximum use of the print and electronic media to enlighten the public on the voting procedure. The voting system is not altogether new to the people since many elections had been held in the recent past.

"Voters were permitted to mark a cross or any other mark opposite the party of their choice. We had been very lenient in checking the votes," he added.

However, political analysts felt that since only four candidates contested the 1994 election as compared to 13 in 1999 the increase may have caused the confusion.

Sympathy and the minority vote

President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe seemed to be heading for an evenly poised finish in the Presidential poll during their five week gruelling campaign.

The campaign took a dramatic turn with last Saturday's attack by a suicide bomber on the PA final election rally.

The President recorded 51.12 per cent of the votes while Mr. Wickremesinghe trailed with 42.7 percent and the other 11 candidates shared the balance.

The UNP's candidate scored his victories mainly in the districts of Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Wanni, the Plantation sector and in the Colombo city. This indicated that the bulk of the minority votes in these areas had gone to the UNP.

The UNP has alleged that mass-scale rigging, impersonation and other malpractices had led to its defeat.

But analysts believe that President Kumaratunga was able to gain more votes in the south, not mearly on sympathy grounds, but because of a fear there might be a sellout to the LTTE if the UNP came to office.

The PA's campaign about the UNP planning to hand over the administration of the northeast province to the LTTE for two years also apparently was at the back of the minds of many of the voters when the rebels made their abortive attempt on the President's life. Election officials said that compared to previous elections the number of women who polled had risen and it was apparent that they favoured Mrs. Kumaratunga.

It was evident that many of the women voters supported Ms. Kumaratunga after being moved by the pictures seen on television of the incident followed by her address made over television in which the President appeared with a bandaged eye. Mr. Wickremesinghe's victory gives a message that the minorities were not happy about the PA's approach in resolving the ethnic conflict.

Mr. Wickremesinghe claims that the defeat in the south was largely due to malpractices.

He claimed that up to 40 per cent of the polling stations had been affected by violence or malpractices and UNP lawyers were considering legal action.President' Kumaratunga's invitation to the opposition is being seen as an acknowledgment by her that Mr. Wickremesinghe's support is needed to resolve the ethnic conflict.

"The political fight is never an easy one. I therefore sincerely commiserate with Mr. Ranil Wickremeinghe in his unsuccessful attempt to win the presidency. And yet I say to Mr. Wickremesinghe that he should take heart. He must take heart, because the very significant support that he and his party commands can mean one thing and one thing only: that the people of this country still intend for him to play a major role in our efforts to forge the new Sri Lanka of tranquillity and tremendous opportunity that stands close at hand," President Kumaratunga said in her speech after being sworn in. The President's plan of seeking opposition co-operation has not been spelt out and the UNP leader has said that if the PA lays down the details they were willing to make their position clear and co-operate. But with the command which Mr. Wickremesinghe has over the minority votes, his party's support would be vital in reaching a consensus to resolve the ethnic conflict.

The co-operation of all opposition parties which command almost one half of those who polled at Tuesday's election is equally important as much as the support of those who voted for Ms. Kumaratunga to rule the country in the next six years.

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