Elections Commissioner refutes opposition allegations of malpractices
By Sugeeswara Senadhira
Colombo, 03 January, (Asiantribune.com):
Sri Lankan Commissioner of Elections, Dayananda Dissanayake rejecting opposition's allegations of election malpractices at the January 26 Presidential Election said there is no requirement at all to nullify results at any polling center.
Speaking to media today he also said that he said that the election was held in a free and fair manner barring few minor incidents. Furthermore he announced that he would continue in office until the next election is over and would not resign as earlier indicated. Mr Dissanayake stated that he reached the decision following appeals by the Opposition as well as his staff.
The Commissioner further said that he will investigate the claim of the opposition United National Party (UNP) that some 64 ballot papers marked in favour of the opposition candidate were found dumped in Anuradhapura and take appropriate action if the allegations are found to be true.
While the opposition candidate General (retd) Sarath Fonseka alleged that there were major malpractices during the election, many analysts have pointed out that there was no doubt whatsoever about the victory of President Mahinda Rajapaksa who obtained over 6 million votes. Fonseka could get only 40 percent of the total of over 10 million votes polled.
- Asian Tribune -
Comments
Election Malpractices -
Election Malpractices - Relativity and context has to be considered by those who accuse of election malpractices. Unfortunately, some degree of local level polls malpractices have been happening for a long time. Its nothing new. This election is therefore not unique for opportunists at local level to possibly have practiced some rigging despite the best effort of the very independent and efficient Elections Commissioner. That is the context. The issue of relativity is the extent of any possible rigging that may have occured during this election, and its impact on the overall result. The extent should have been close to 900,000 votes for a material difference to the election outcome and President Rajapaksa's win, and for the Elections Commissioner to annul the election as called for by the defeated candidate Sarath Fonseka, the possible number of votes (or ballot papers) found in dustbins or wherever, should have been close to 900,000. If all Mr Fonseka and the UNP, JVP, TNA and all others who supported Mr Fonseka are able to produce are 64 ballot papers, it borders on being ridiculous for the Elections Commissioner to waste his time and that of his department considering he has another election to prepare for within the next 2 -3 months.
Its beneath the dignity of a serious Presidential candidate to call for something very serious as annulling the premier election in the country, on the basis of 64 ballot papers found in a dustbin.
It is also not difficult now to print some ballot papers illegally and throw them into dustbins, get them "discovered" in order to discredit the victor. If such an illegal activity has happened, nothing prevents the same illegal printers and finders of such fradulant ballot papers printing a few hundred thousand ballot papers now, throw them into dustbins, get them "discovered" and accuce the victor of malpractices.
The level to which the SF
The level to which the SF campaign and the General himself are carrying these allegations of malpractices has reached the heights of the ridiculous. Even if the General is unaware of how democracy works (after all, he does not seem to have found it necessary to ensure that he is a registered voter!), his teammates should educate him - that the loser concedes in gentlemanly fashion. This insistence that he won and should be accepted as President only serves to reveal the extent to which the General and his team completely miscalculated and were self-hypnotized into believing their own rumor campaigns and saw victory based on crowds at rallies and other such unreliable data and polls.
The simple fact that emerges is: THEY ARE ALL SORE LOSERS. The General is the most disappointing of all if this is the example that he can offer his followers.
All that the SF team is achieving is throwing mud on Sri Lanka, their own country, while the world watches. We question whether they deserve even the votes they got.
The appalling use of organized rumor campaigns or "Katakatha" anecdotes by the SF team in order to vilify the President and the public service is something new to the Lankan scene, and the "hate speech" that has dominated these rumors signifies a new low to which election campaigns have sunk. That these continue unabated a week after the election is a sorry indictment of SF and his team.
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