International
Sri Lankan polls: Candidates angry, monitors want repoll
By Nirupama Subramanian
COLOMBO, DEC. 5. Tamil politicians and local and international election monitors have accused the Sri Lankan Government of disenfranchising thousands of Tamils and violating their fundamental rights by not allowing people in LTTE-held areas to vote in today's parliamentary elections.
``It is an infringement of the Constitution,'' said Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham, a candidate of the four-party Tamil National Alliance (TNA) from Batticaloa.
Nearly 40,000 voters in the district and an equal number in the Vanni in northern Sri Lanka, all living in LTTE- held territory, were barred from crossing into Government- controlled areas to cast their votes at special cluster polling booths set up by elections officials.
The Army maintained that the decision was made to prevent the LTTE from entering the Government-controlled areas to launch attacks at a time when over 3,000 soldiers had been drawn from these areas for election duty. But it has been accused of political motives.
``It was done deliberately to deprive the TNA of the votes from these areas and to boost the performance of the ruling party,'' said Mr. Pararajasingham.
Voters from these areas were expected to support the TNA, which contested the election on a pro-LTTE platform, and was allowed by the LTTE to campaign in areas controlled by it. The Government, too, permitted candidates to cross into these areas for electioneering.
The private Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) said it was ``ironic that the people who were canvassed for their votes are now being denied their basic right to cast their vote.''
It described the decision as the ``disenfranchising of sections of the populace in the North-East'' and asked the Elections Commissioner to order a repoll for the affected voters.
The head of the European Union (EU) delegation to monitor the elections, Mr. John Cushnahan, also called the decision a ``disenfranchisement'' of thousands of Tamils.
``This decision will have a significant impact on the results of the election in those districts,'' he said.
Cautioning that he was still awaiting reports from all parts of the country before delivering the EU team's verdict on the election, Mr. Cushnahan, who was here to observe the 2000 elections, said that this time, the incidents of violence seemed ``significantly'' higher.
At one place in Kandy district, which witnessed the highest number of violent incidents, the presiding officer had to escape to the nearest police station with the ballot box.
At another, the official in-charge cancelled polling when he lost control of the booth.
Armed gangs fired in the air outside polling stations. At one station they set a ballot box ablaze.
Speaking to The Hindu from Batticaloa, Mr. Parajasingham said he had lodged a complaint with the Elections Commissioner against the Army decision to close the checkpoints.
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