“Prior to the election the Election Commissioner complained about the non-compliance of the government relating to his instructions, particularly relating to the abuse of state media. The Election Commissioner’s prohibitions against several programmes and against the chairman of the SLBC were openly flouted.”………………………………………….
By Our Political Editor
(January 27, Colombo Sri Lanka Guardian) An election which was marked by violence throughout seems to indicate further violence as the counting goes on. At this moment several reports have confirmed that the hotel occupied by the common candidate for several opposition parties, Gen. (Rtd.) Sarath Fonseka, has been surrounded by the armed forces. The area has been cordoned off and people moving about the vicinity are being searched. Several reports already published mention that the arrest of Sarath Fonseka and his supporters is imminent. There are also reports of attacks being planned on the ancestral homes of Fonseka’s relatives in the South.
The speculation on the reason for the arrest of the retired general is that the government is using the pretext of trying to prevent him taking the first step towards a coup by organizing his loyalists in the army, which he commanded just a few months ago. However, there are also reports that the President’s brother, Gotabhaya, who is the Secretary of Defense has ordered the arrest of the retired general in retaliation of the many accusations he made against Gotabhaya. In particular, there are the accusations of corruption and also his conduct at the end of the conflict with the LTTE, where he is alleged to have committed war crimes in ordering the deaths of the LTTE leaders who surrendered under a flag of truce after being promised safe conduct. The strong rivalry between Fonseka and the Secretary of Defense was a prominent factor during the election campaign. Fonseka declared that in the event of his victory he would arrest the Rajapakse family on corruption charges and bring them to justice.
Perhaps the more plausible reason for wanting to arrest Fonseka is the possible protests by the opposition against election rigging and violence. There is strong speculation that the postal votes have been tampered with through supporters of the government and the results announced of the actual postal votes are, in fact, fake. There were also reports of the prevention of voters from attending the polling stations in almost all parts of the country, particularly in the north where there were bomb blasts during the voting hours which is said to have intimidated many persons from participating.
Throughout the whole day of the election the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) was openly used for urging persons not to vote for Fonseka. The radio constantly announced that, as Fonseka was not a registered voter, he was not eligible to stand for election and therefore was not qualified to be a candidate. The people were openly asked not to vote for Fonseka as that would be a wasted vote. A government minister and prominent government spokesman and the Chairman of the SLBC himself, constantly and provocatively spoke against Fonseka and the opposition as having perpetrated a fraud on the people. The Election Commissioner had to intervene to counteract this propaganda by stating that Fonseka was, in fact, an eligible candidate.
Prior to the election the Election Commissioner complained about the non-compliance of the government relating to his instructions, particularly relating to the abuse of state media. The Election Commissioner’s prohibitions against several programmes and against the chairman of the SLBC were openly flouted. Under these circumstances the government has much to fear about fraud and violence during the elections and it seems to be attempting to preempt such protests by arresting Fonseka and his supporters.
The manner in which the state media in general and the SLBC in particular, has been used during the election day and count is most provocative and very much likely to lead to violence against the supporters of the opposition candidate throughout the country. Violence in the aftermath of elections has been a common factor since 1978 and on some occasions the government has taken the precaution of taking various actions in order to prevent such violence. However, at the moment the present government is, in fact, acting provocatively by the use of the state media.
Observers in the country and outside are calling on the international community to intervene urgently to avoid the escalation of violence in Sri Lanka.
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