At least five people were injured when a van carrying supporters of the ruling UPFA was attacked by a group of supporters of another candidate of the same party in the Kandurugasara area of Embilipitiya.
The incident took place on Monday evening when the van was on its way after attending a rally in the area.
The injured are now receiving treatment at the Embilipitiya Base Hospital while the van which was stoned and attacked with poles had been severely damaged.
The web site belonging to the campaign for Free and fair Elections (CaFFE), an independent polls monitoring group was blocked for nearly four days and it’s director alleged sabotage by interested parties.
Keerthi Tenakoon said they were able to open the site from early today after it was blocked over the weekend. “This was a deliberate attempt, there is no doubt o0n that”, he said.
He further warned that pre-election violence was on the rise with the worst affected area being Nawalapitiya.
“The opposition has practically given up its campaign in this area owing to threats. Even pro-government candidates from other areas are not being allowed to campaign in this area by a certain heavy weight”, Mr. Tenakoon added.
At least 36 incidents of pre-election violence and malpractices have so far been reported throughout the country.
Sri Lanka's major opposition United National Party (UNP) executive committee decided today to appoint a committee to look into the disciplinary matters of the party's election candidates.
The UNP executive committee that met this morning also discussed the problem of the party nominations for Monaragala district.
UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake told the media later that the leader of the district team ex-MP Ranjith Madduma Bandara and the deputy leader Ananda Kumarasiri are under the probe.
Nihal Chandrasiri was appointed as the acting district organizer for Monaragala district while a disciplinary investigation is carried out properly, he said. (Read More)
The UNP said yesterday that they would request Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake to deploy foreign election monitors to the counting centres at this general election.
Addressing a press conference, UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake said that his party was concerned about possible election malpractices at this election, and therefore the presence of foreign monitors would be important.
Mr. Attanayake said that the party would launch its election manifesto on March 16 outlining fresh measures to bring down the cost of living.
Meanwhile, UNP MP Dayasiri Jayasekara told Parliament during the debate on the extension of the state of emergency that the election authorities had planned to import paper from India to print ballot papers. (Read More)
The UNP members of the Western Provincial Council is to request party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe to look into the omission of provincial councilor C. Y. P. Ram’s name from the party’s Colombo District list for the upcoming general election in April.
A resolution in this regard was passed at the group meeting of the UNP Western Provincial Council members last morning prior to yesterday’s sessions.
UNP Member of the Provincial Council Sujeewa Senasinghe who moved the resolution had said such irregularities would affect the party. He was of the opinion that the opportunity which the party has to win the Colombo District at the coming general election will be affected by such a move.
They were also of the opinion that the party should do justice to Mr.Ram.
All the members who were present at the group meeting has approved this resolution according to sources.
It has been reported that party leader Ranil Wickremesighe had assured Mr. Ram that he would be UNP’s mayoral candidate for Colombo at the next local government election in 2011
In a strange twist of events, Ministers Johnston Fernando and Indika Bandaranaike, who joined the ruling UPFA from the UNP, ceased to hold their MP posts from yesterday in the reconvened Parliament since they had withdrawn a Supreme Court case challenging their expulsion from the UNP.
Parliament was reconvened yesterday on a presidential proclamation to pass the emergency regulations for a further period of one month.They switched their allegiance to the government and accepted ministerial portfolios during the presidential election period. Subsequently, the UNP expelled them from the party. However, the two dissidents went to court against their expulsions.
However, after the dissolution of Parliament on February, they withdrew their cases as the Supreme Court dismissed the cases. (Read More)
The Election Monitors said yesterday that there had not been any improvements in the status of the removal of propaganda material and added that this could be a result of political pressure on the relevant authorities.
People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) spokesman Rohana Hettiarachchi said he personally visited several districts and a large amount of propaganda material is still on display. “I visited several districts in the Southern province and through the observations it was evident that although the posters were removed, the cut-outs and the banners were remaining,” he added.
Hettiarachchi asserted that the reason behind the tendency to leave out the cut-outs and banners could be the political pressure on the authorities responsible of removing the propaganda material. “We also noticed that the majority of the material belonged to the candidates contesting from the ruling party.” (REad More)
