|
|
Cometh the best man forward
Wednesday, 3 February 2010 - 9:25 AM SL Time
 Share On Facebook
|
|
|
The Opposition`s brouhaha over last week s polls results is bound to fizzle out sooner or later with or without an election petition being filed, when the futility of their venture sinks in. But, its unsubstantiated allegations of a computer fraud and switching of bundles of ballots at counting centres are likely to tarnish the image of the country and cause some erosion of public confidence in the electoral process. Worse, their claim of mass scale election malpractice is tantamount to an affront to Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake and his staff.
Some western governments have expressed concern over the allegations at issue and a foreign ambassador is reported to have audaciously inquired about the Opposition`s claim from a senior minister. She is lucky that the present government has chosen to act with restraint. The late President Ranasinghe Premadasa, it may be recalled, had a British High Commissioner (David Gladstone) declared persona non grata for having protested against vote-rigging at an election in the South. He was sent back home unceremoniously. President J. R. Jayewardene took a US diplomat to task for `talking out turn` at a social gathering JRJ was furious about an adverse remark the diplomat concerned had made on the infamous Referendum (1982).
Before Jan. 26 polls, the Elections Commissioner warned the presidential candidates through the media not to trot out `foolish excuses` after being defeated, because all measures had been adopted to prevent polls rigging. But, the Opposition cannot afford to concede defeat since the forthcoming general election is a frightening proposition for it. It is aware that the outcome of parliamentary polls to be held will be far more devastating than that of the presidential election, like the second wave of Tsunami. Its real strength has been exposed and its hero is lying supine. A debilitated JVP apparently fears a whitewash and the UNP has betrayed its impotence by contracting a political hit man to take on President Mahinda Rajapaksa in the recent presidential contest. Hence, their obtuse attempt to make a fig leaf out of an imaginary computer fraud. (A wag says it is a damn shame for the hi-tech savvy Kollupitiya boys to claim that their Kurakkan-eating Medamulana counterparts have beaten daylight out of them technologically!)
This is what a former civil servant with decades of experience in conducting polls Somapala Gunadheera said about the Opposition`s claim at issue, in an article in this newspaper on Monday: `Miscounting a majority of over 1.8 million votes under this sophisticated system would have been a task beyond even a Gogia Pasha.` He, however, said that it was in the interest of democracy to clear all suspicions about an election. `In any case,` he concluded, `if no legal action is initiated within a week or two, the voters may justifiably presume that the allegation of vote rigging is withdrawn.` As he rightly pointed out `it is not fair that a country`s reputation is left hanging indefinitely.` These words of wisdom must be heeded.
Since the JVP, the UNP, the SLMC and the TNA claim that election results were manipulated, they must be asked to provide specific instances in support of their claim. They had their counting agents throughout the country and none of them, as far as we are aware, raised objections before the announcement of results at counting centres. They duly signed relevant documents accepting official results which were subsequently released to the general public and gazetted. The Opposition must be able to name at least one counting centre affected by polls malpractice, if any.
The onus is on Somawansa Amarasinghe, Ranil Wickremesinghe, Sarath Fonseka, Mangala Samaraweera, Rauff Hakeem, R. Sampanthan, Mano Ganeshan et al to substantiate their allegations by citing instances of polls rigging.
The Polls Chief is scheduled to meet the press today. This meeting is somewhat overdue. It behoves him to brief the media, field questions and allay whatever doubts the public may have of the legitimacy of the outcome of last week`s presidential election because of the Opposition`s protests. It will be interesting to know what he has got to say about the allegations the Opposition top guns are peddling to save their face at his expense.
|
|
|
noworries
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 343
Member Profile
|
 4 Feb 2010 12:32:23 GMT Report for Abuse
|
I read the report of Mr. Dayananda Dissanayake's press conference today in the Island, AFP and elsewhere. The election commissioner denied wild claims by opposition elements that he was held at gunpoint and that his children were taken into custody. He did complain about the misuse of state media but nevertheless, stood by the election result.
It looks like the main industry and preoccupation of many Sri Lankans both at home and abroad (the manufacture of nasty rumours) is thriving, thanks to the internet and SMS! Yes, sadly, we can teach the world how to cook up stories and to tarnish the image of a country and its people. |
chinwi
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 290
Member Profile
|
 4 Feb 2010 15:50:46 GMT Report for Abuse
|
Everything done by fools of opposition is counter productive.
It is not the SLFP or UNP conducted the election. It is EC and his staff and thousands of Govt. officers did the counting.
There may be hardcore UNPers, SLFP or JVPers among the officers but as per my experience they leave the personal attitudes behind and act independently in the election duties. These allegations are not entertained by had worked officers.
These allegations are done by people who do not know the procedures and well tested methods adopted in an election in this country.
All the figures obtained in a counting step are tallied with all other previous steps and there is no chance of adding extra votes in any stage of counting.
I do not know why they can't find any productive or realistic idea to fight with the government than creating these foolish stories day by day. As noworries said only the image of the country is damaged by them. |
DONP
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 85
Member Profile
|
 4 Feb 2010 19:55:48 GMT Report for Abuse
|
If you cannot take defeat, why contest?
The Alliance of stange bedfellows went in front the Sri Lankan General Public for a decision and they got it. The fact that they cannot digest it should not be a reason to be slinging mud all over. They are talking about state misusing state media - What on earth are they doing with the private media that is on their side?
As Noworries says and Chinwi confirms, this unholy alliance do not know what irrepairable damage they are doing to the image of Sri Lanka, or they just don't care. |
Mucha-linda
Senior Member
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 4474
Member Profile
|
5 Feb 2010 03:27:08 GMT Report for Abuse
|
The entire election campaign of the combined opposition was run on lies and lies alone. They began their campaign on a lie which continued and gathered momentum through more lies. Once defeated they fabricated more and more lies to cover their colossal defeat.
They are at least consistent with their approach. |
|
Search All News and Discussions