Two persons were killed in separate incidents in Kurunegala and Wariyapola taking the total elections violence related killings up to four and incidents up to 695.
In Kurunegala one person was killed and four injured when a hand grenade was thrown at a residence which was also the election office of Minister Jayaratne Herath yesterday evening. The victim was Suranga Indrajith (28) a driver attached to the Ministry of Health, police media spokesman I.M. Karunaratne said.
A supporter of the Joint Opposition Presidential Candidate Sarath Fonseka was clubbed to death at Ambakadawara, Wariyapola by a gang alleged to be UPFA supporters in the early yesterday. A group of ten supporters of Gen. Fonseka had reportedly been pasting posters, when they came under attack by a gang on motorcycles. The supporters had fled to escape the attack, but one of them was killed. (Read More)
Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mahinda Balasuriya yesterday faulted the policemen and officials in charge of the Polonnaruwa district as they had time to prevent the motorcade of Minister Maithripala Sirisena confronting supporters of Gen. Sarath Fonseka who were engaged in distributing handbills in Polonnaruwa town.
“We are now in the process of taking action against all those policemen who failed to prevent the incident taking place and they are being replaced by experienced officers with immediate effect,” he said.
“We have informed all party seniors to prevent unauthorized protests that violate election laws. For example, the Polonnaruwa incident resulted in damaging an election office and four vehicles as the peace march during which handbills were distributed turned violent,” IGP Balasuriya said.
National Freedom Front media spokesman and parliamentarian Mohamed Muzamil yesterday lodged a complaint with the Criminal Investigations Department against Parliamentarians Ravi Karunanayake and Myown Mustapha, former UNP Chairman Malik Samarawickrema and ex-Presidential Advisor Nazeer Ahamed accusing them of attempting to bribe him to switch his allegiance to Opposition common Presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka at the forthcoming Presidential election.
Muzamil had stated that he was offered a bribe of Rs 30 million.
It took Muzamil three hours to complete his lengthy complaint. He also handed over to the CID, the money he had already received, the bag which contained it and the audio and video compact discs pertaining to the conversation that took place when the bribe was offered. (Read More)
Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa this afternoon paid his last respects to Mr. Saman Kumara, the UPFA supporter who was killed by an armed group in Madurankuliya, at his house in Anamaduwa.
Saman Kumara was shot dead when a group of opposition party supporters opened fire at the UPFA supporters as they were passing a UNP office on their way to a rally at Anamaduwa.
Deputy Speaker Priyankara Jayarathne is also in the picture.
A driver of minister Jayaratne Herath has been killed in a hand grenade blast in Kurunegala this evening (Jan. 18).
According to some reports, the incident had taken place at the home of the minister, while other reports indicate the scene of the blast was his political office.
Mr. Herath is the non-cabinet minister for health promotion and disease prevention.
Police said the grenade had been lobbed from a passing vehicle.
With just eight days remaining for the presidential polls, campaign-related violence has claimed the lives of four persons.
The Government Ministers and politicians canvassing for President Mahinda Rajapaksa by resorting to violence in Ampara district. These politicians are with thugs with sophisticated and dangerous weapons to suppresses UNF party supporters in the area , while UNF campaign is conducting in a peaceful manner without breaking any election laws, said UNP Chief Organizer Daya Gamage.
Therefore, UNF does not want to stoop into that level. These acts of violence by the Government is a clearly evident of General Sarath Fonseka victory on January 26, Gamage told at a media conference at Ampara on Monday. The media conference was organized to enlighten the media personnel on the government's behaviors in the election campaign.
He said up to now 21 UNF party offices, 15 houses and three vehicles have been attacked and destroyed by UPFA supporters and more than 32 UNF supporters have been attacked and hospitalized .
The police in the areas gives police protection to President Rajapaksa's cutout while removing General Fonseka's cutout and green flags. Meanwhile, people in the area now suffering from fear psychosis as many state sponsored thugs with weapons roaming in the area not only in white vans but also in black and white colored Defender type jeeps to attack UNF supporters and its party offices, he said. (Read More)
CaFFE had written to Elections Commissioner expressing its serious concerns on the issue of temporary ID cards for voters who do not possess a national or any other valid identification. He has drawn the attention of Dissanayaka to the fact that applications for temporary ID cards had been certified by unauthorized men and temporary ID cards had been issued by unauthorized persons making it a mockery. He requested Dissanayaka to declare the names of those who had obtained temporary ID cards and the number of temporary ID cards issued to voters in any particular polling station as CaFFE had information that there were attempts to cast votes using temporary ID cards through school children.
Director General, Information, Anusha Palpita in a communiqué said the Director General of Persons had made arrangements to issue temporary ID cards until next Thursday. Palpita advises voters without an accepted identification to obtain an application either from State Superintendents or Grama Niladharis, fill it properly and hand them back before Jan. 21. (Read More)
A Commonwealth Expert Team (CET) will arrive in Colombo on Tuesday January 19, and stay until February 1, 2010 for the forthcoming Presidential Elections to be held on January 26. The CET will be led by former Jamaican Foreign Minister K.D. Knight, the office of the Commonwealth Secretary said.
IN the team are Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma at the invitation of the Sri Lanka Commissioner of Elections.
“The Group’s mandate is to assess the overall conduct of the electoral process and the environment in which the election is conducted, according to the standards for democratic elections to which the country has committed itself,” he added.
The Group will act impartially and independently and shall conduct itself according to the standards expressed in the International Declaration of Principles for Election Observation to which the Commonwealth is a signatory. The Group’s report will be submitted to the Commonwealth Secretary-General, who will in turn send it to the Government of Sri Lanka, the Commissioner of Elections, political parties, and eventually to all Commonwealth Governments. The Commonwealth Expert Team will comprise five persons, including the Chair. The Team comprises, Ms Cynthia Barrow-Giles, Lecturer in Political Science (University of the West Indies, Barbados), St Lucia, Subba Rao Ilapavuluri - Chief Electoral Officer of Andhra Pradesh, India, Ms Jane Michuki-Lawyer, Kenya, Tim Neale - Media Expert, UK.
Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) said yesterday that the recently concluded postal voting for the Presidential Election were not free and fair.
CaFFE director and media spokesman Keerthi Tennakoon said there were several incidents including ballots exercised by other people, disturbing the polling agents and unlawful campaigning in and around the polling centers reported during the two days of postal voting.
"For the first time in Sri Lankan history, two teachers namely M G Thilakatartne of Bastian School in Neluwakanda and S Bandara of Dankanda School in Matale, have complained to the District Secretary that their ballots have been exercised by some other persons. The tragedy is that the postal vote, basically is closely monitored, supervised and exercised by the Government Servants themselves. These are the people who are supposed to implement the election law island wide on January 26," Tennakoon said.
He said some of the Police officers, service personnel, CTB depot managers, and the senior government officers have instigated voters to vote for a particular candidate. There were complaints against senior police and service personnel, and some of the additional secretaries of certain ministries.
The authorized polling agents of political parties were denied or at least delayed entry to polling stations at the Anuradhapura Gajaba Regiment and to two Polling Stations in Army Camps in Trincomalee, Tennakoon said.
There were incidents of unlawful campaigns reported at the CTB Depots in Welisara, Homagama, Kinniya, Batticaloa and Ratnapura.
Two Police officers were assaulted when attempting to stop unlawful campaigns near the Ministry of Labour in Colombo.
Meanwhile, Chief Executive of the Network for Election Monitoring Dr. Uditha Gunasekera, said the majority of complaints reported from Kurunegala District were 98.
The second majority (58) was reported from the Polonnaruwa District and Hambantota District was third with 49 complaints.
The Opposition has urged Navy Chief Vice Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe to prevent President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s second son, Sub Lieutenant Yoshitha from campaigning for his father at the presidential polls.
Themiya Hurulle, on behalf of the National Democratic Front, in a strongly worded letter to the Vice Admiral said that this was in breach of the Presidential Election Act, Navy Ordinance, the Establishment Code and the guidelines issued by Polls Chief Dayananda Dissanayake prohibiting public servants and Navy officers from engaging in political activity.
He urged the Navy Chief to uphold the dignity of the service by not playing politics at the times of elections.
