The United National Front will be contesting the upcoming General Election under the elephant symbol of the UNP, political party sources said yesterday.

Sources said discussions among constituent parties of the United National Front had taken place to this effect.

Inside party sources added the discussions had been positive and were heading towards a successful conclusion.

The UNP, SLMC, Democratic People’s Front, and the SLFP (Mahajana Wing) had discussions yesterday as well in this regard.

Sources added the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna would be contesting the General Election under its own symbol.

Vavuniya District Secretary Mrs. P.S.M. Charles yesterday found fault with the Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake for not approving the special identity card issued for the displaced as a valid document for voting, right till the day of polling.

Mrs. Charles told the Daily Mirror that she, shortly after the declaration of the Presidential Election, requested the Commissioner to accept this as a valid ID card for the displaced civilians to cast their ballots. (Read More)

The main opposition UNP yesterday charged that UPFA supporters were planning to attack pro opposition employees when they report to work today at various public institutions.

In a letter to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake alleged that pro opposition employees of government institutions such as Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, Ceylon Electricity Board, Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation and the Sri Lanka Ports Authority were to be prevented from reporting for work and were to be harass them in various ways.

He said some of the employees had already been threatened over the phone.

“This means the suppressing of a person’s democratic right to adopt a political ideology of his or her choice and is a dangerous precedence,” Mr. Attanayake said.

The UNP General Secretary asked the President to take steps to prevent such a situation from arising and to provide adequate security to all public establishementemployees.

UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake, in a letter addressed to the President, said he had received information that UPFA supporters in public institutions such as the Petroleum Corporation, Sri Lanka Transport Board, Ports Authority and Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation etc were planning to attack their colleagues who had supported Presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka at last week’s presidential polls.

Attanayake alleged that those workers who were expected to report to work today have been told that they would be attacked and not be allowed to work. (Read More)

He said that the Jaffna people knew him as EPDP leader and if he contested on the UPFA ticket, it would affect his vote base.

"However, I will not leave the UPFA as a constituent party and I will join with President Mahinda Rajapaksa after winning this election," Devananda said.

Meanwhile, people in Jaffna town held a Harthal on Saturday against Minister Devananda’s decision to resign from the Government. Hundreds of shops in Jaffna town and surrounding areas were closed for hours while people protested on the streets. (Read More)

Of 988,334 the registered voters in the Northern Province, only 292,812 have exercised their franchise at last week’s presidential election.

The Jaffna District had 721,359 registered voters but only 185,132 voted while of the 266,975 eligible voters in Vanni District only 107,680 voted.

Both districts in the Northern Province were won by opposition candidate Sarath Fonseka, who polled 184,244 votes, while President Rajapaksa received 72,894 votes.(Read More)

Charging that party representatives at some counting centres had not received copies of the result of the recently concluded presidential election, Campaign for Free and Fair Election (CAFFÉ) yesterday called on Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake to send copies to them of the total votes polled at these centres as soon as possible.

CAFFÉ Spokesman Keerthi Tennekoon said he had written to the polls chief asking him to send him copies of the result sheets. In the letter Mr. Tennekoon reminded the polls chief that carbon copies of results sheets are usually given to political party representatives while one is sent to the polls chief and another copy is filed thereafter. The CAFFÉ spokesman said this process has not been followed in some counting stations.

CAFFÉ have also asked for a copy of the results sheets issued at each polling station in the country. (read More)

If any one wants to know what is the "Carbonized Copy of the Election Result" and how it looks like this is a copy used in this election.

Until the first postal result for the Ratnapura district was released, many believed that the 2010 presidential election would be a close one. Everyone, including the top UPFA leaders, were expecting a narrow margin of victory. Speaking to this reporter on the evening of election day, a senior SLFP Minister claimed that the president will win the election by about 300 000 votes. But as the results started coming, in it was obvious that we were all mistaken.

The final result read Mahinda Rajapaksa at 57.88% (6,015,934) of the vote and Sarath Fonseka at 40.15% (4,173,185.) Clearly a landslide victory for President Rajapaksa -- a resounding victory that would under normal circumstances shut the critics up for good.

Unfortunately, it is events after the results were announced that has attracted everyone’s attention. Conspiracy theories flow freely and almost everyone has his or her doubts about the final result. Common opposition candidate Sarath Fonseka said that the final results announced at the end of the presidential election were distorted and he was not prepared to accept it
“It is a result that could not be expected even at a minor election. Hence, we do not accept this result. We would take measures to file objections to the commissioner of elections,” said the general. In his speech the next day, the election commissioner said: “I did my duties during this time under great duress and mental agony.” This has given rise to many rumours.  (Read More)