Sri Lankan elections 'a fraud'

February 3, 1999
Issue 

Sri Lankan elections 'a fraud'

The January 25 Wayamba provincial elections in Sri Lanka have been condemned as a "fraud beyond all imagination orchestrated by the PA [People's Alliance] government". Speaking on the day of the poll, the New Left Front's Dr Vicramabahu Karunaratne said: "We have not seen an election fraud of this scale ever before in Sri Lanka, not even in the days of J.R. Jayawardene, who masterminded Sri Lanka's dictatorial constitution of 1979".

According to reports from the NLF, every polling booth was surrounded by about 50 thugs who made it a point to prevent polling agents from the NLF and the People's Liberation Front (JVP) from entering the premises. Many NLF and JVP supporters found that their votes had already been "cast" when they went in to vote.

The NLF says that, quite openly at most polling stations, ballot boxes were filled by PA thugs. As well, many boxes were removed from the polling stations long before the official close of polls.

Two days earlier, a leading candidate of the NLF was assaulted and seriously injured by a PA gang. W.A. Martin was formerly a leading member of the now defunct Mahogany Party. That party dissolved into the PA government, and Martin and his supporters recently joined the NLF in open revolt against the PA's capitalist path and its continuation of the war against the Tamils of north and east Sri Lanka.

After receiving death threats at the hospital he was taken to, Martin was moved by his comrades to the NLF campaign office in Kurunegala for protection. The attack on Martin followed a brutal assault on two NLF leaders on January 13.

Martin was one of many NLF candidates who had received death threats throughout the campaign. Despite this, on the morning of January 23, the minimal police protection provided to NLF candidates was suddenly removed under orders from the PA hierarchy.

The NLF has petitioned the Elections Commission to declare the provincial poll null and void.

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