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Will he deliver?
Monday, 26 September 2005 - 3:21 AM SL Time
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Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake has promised to go all out to rid the upcoming presidential election of malpractices, which usually mar Sri Lankan elections. It is, no doubt like cleaning the Augean stables. Unlike Hercules, with so many political cattle around in this country, in place of two rivers, Mr. Dissanayake might need a tsunami to achieve that feat. King Augeas` stables had not been cleaned, it is said, only for 30 years and the political stables here have not been swept for over 50 long years since Independence. And the mechanism that was proposed by way of accomplishing the task'the Elections Commission (EC)'has failed to get off the ground due to a political tug of war. Now, before setting up the EC, the need has arisen for the mother of all independent commissions, the Constitutional Council (CC), which has come to a halt for want of commissioners, to be appointed urgently.
Mr. Dissanayake is a man of courage who has done his department proud without giving in to political pressure. But he compared with, for example, his Indian counterpart, obviously lacks enough teeth to take on the political Mafiosi effectively, who will stop at nothing in their efforts to rig elections. Warnings by Elections Commissioners, they have heard in the past, but never have they abandoned their sordid operations. For, they know warnings hardly get translated into action.
For example, in 1982, the country witnessed the biggest ever chanda mankollaya (looting of votes) in the form of a referendum. Unbridled force was used against the electors and the elections officers alike. The then UNP government, thus, won it and extended the life of Parliament in which it had a five-fifth majority. What happened in the North and East at last year`s general election compares with the 1982 Referendum. The report by the EU Election Observation Mission-popularly known as the Cushanan Report-bears ample testimony to the large scale malpractices that plagued that election. Instances were also reported of the LTTE using children as young as 10 years of age to `vote` for the TNA while blocking other political parties from even electioneering in those parts of the country. But, strangely, the results were recognised as official and on that basis 22 TNA members entered Parliament!
At the upcoming presidential election as well, the LTTE will resort to the same tactics to tilt the scales, in the North and the East, in favour of the candidate of their choice. And in a neck to neck race, the LTTE will, thus, be in a position to influence or determine the final outcome much to the detriment of democracy, the quid pro quo being the accommodation by their chosen candidate of their demands, which will be a threat to national security. The method the LTTE employs to rig the polls are not violent. They mainly resort to mass scale impersonation which is evident from the unusually high voter turn out which in some cases is nearly one hundred per cent, as democratic Tamil political parties point out.
Even in the south, the Elections Department has failed to effectively thwart impersonation. The ink used to mark the voters` fingers, as has been discussed in these columns earlier, is far from indelible. Removing it is child`s play for organised groups. How easy it would be for an outfit like the LTTE to remove it and surreptitiously fill the boxes through impersonators, goes without saying. The fact that last time around, its strategy worked has definitely emboldened the LTTE to go for a repeat performance. Is the Elections Department prepared for such an eventuality' And how does it propose to counter LTTE plans'
The increasing dependence of the country on the various monitoring outfits, which have found Golconda in elections, has been the result of the state`s failure to ensure free and fair elections. Some of these monitors have manifestly overstepped their limits and are trying to run parallel governments of sorts. Most of them have their own agendas, which they peddle under the pretext of election monitoring. Most of them are partial either to southern parties or the LTTE. They practically serve no purpose in preventing election violence or rigging. How can dwarfs succeed where giants have failed' Even a British High Commissioner (David Gladstone) who, on seeing rampant rigging during an election, couldn`t help poking his diplomatic nose into a polling booth in the south during the Premadasa times, was declared persona non grata. Even the EU monitors, who came on invitation, have painstakingly filed a report on the 2004 general election in vain, as was said earlier.
One cannot but appreciate the difficulties of the Elections Commissioner who is being kept in his office `against his wish` until the setting up of the EC, which is likely to take a month, if not a year, of Sundays. But now that he has renewed his pledge to ensure free and fair polls, he will have to live to the people`s expectations. Will he'
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fahmy
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 55
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25 Sep 2005 21:00:51 GMT Report for Abuse
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| I think only the present Elections Commissioner can set an example in using his powers to ensure there is a fair and free elections. However, there is going to be a lot of 'horachanda' in many forms. Which he is not in a position to stop it unless every voter is compelled to produce his/her identity card and that, it is punched at every election. As it is, the people are waiting to see how he is going to have re polling in the event of complaints of 'horachanda'. Will he be courageous to use his powers and stick to his word? |
sanathds
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 108
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28 Sep 2005 20:03:36 GMT Report for Abuse
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Mr. Dissanayake,
you had all sort of rough seas on the way.
It seems that you are becoming out-spoken of the TRUTH whole of the nation need at the moment.we are happy to see at least there are few good civil servents like late Mr. Siriwardane in SL still. Be prepared to serve the nation. you will be remembered for ever. |
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