Underworld used to foist Rajapaksa’s agenda on Sirisena: Ranil

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has charged that hard core followers of defeated Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa in the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) have used thugs and underworld elements to foist Rajapaksa’s policies on President Maithripala Sirisena, who became Chairman of the party after winning the January 8 Presidential election. Speaking to the media here on Thursday, just four days before the August 17 parliamentary elections, Wickremesinghe said that people had worked to make Sirisena, who was General Secretary of the SLFP, the President of the country. As per the constitution of the SLFP, if a member becomes President of Sri Lanka, he or she becomes party Chairman also. As per this provision, Sirisena became SLFP Chairman and it was expected that the party would adopt his electoral mandate. But a “hardcore” section of the party (loyal to Rajapaksa) used thugs and the underworld to foist Rajapaksa’s policies on Sirisena, just as they behaved when they were in government. Most Peaceful Elections Wickremesinghe, who is also Leader of the ruling United National Front for Good Governance (UNFGG), said that the election process has been the most peaceful since 1977. This is because his government had empowered the Election Commission. He appealed to people to vote for the UNFGG to continue the trend towards good governance. According to the Center for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV), between July 13 and August 12, there were 737 violent incidents. Of these, 83 percent were minor. Firearms were used only in 10. Rajapaksa’s UPFA was responsible for 45 incidents and UNFGG for 34. The highest number of incidents took place in Colombo district followed by Jaffna, Gampaha, Galle and Wanni.