Jaffna election irregularities on voting eve

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 November 2005, 12:55 GMT]
Reports from Jaffna reveal intimidating and underhand activities of the Eelam People Democratic Party (EPDP) cadres in organising vote-rigging in Sri Lanka Presidential election. Groups of armed EPDP cadres were seen visiting house to house forcibly collecting the 'ballot-tokens' from residents in islets off Jaffna peninsula, TamilNet learns. With armed protection from the State armed forces, Douglas Devananda's EPDP is holding unannounced short-meetings at market places and actively campaigning for Mahinda Rajapakse, the candidate of the ruling party.

As directed by Jaffna Government Agent, Mr Ganesh, election officials have closed the normal polling stations in Jaffna islets and have replaced them with cluster-polling booths at central points. Although this makes the job of monitoring elections easier, reporters in Jaffna point out that the new arrangement will cause confusion and inconvenience to voters.

Meanwhile, military sources in Jaffna have confirmed in anonymity, that two military vehicles were used to transport ballot papers from Palaly to an undisclosed destination in Jaffna. With divided loyalties in Jaffna among the military personnel between Mahinda Rajapakse and Ranil Wickremasinghe, there is an air of tension in the military camps, the sources added.

Military personnel were also seen busy in different areas in the peninsula removing posters requesting Tamil voters to boycott voting.

During the visit of Prime Minister Rajapakse's visit to Jaffna, EPDP invited volunteer teachers in Jaffna to its Sridhar Theatre head quarters promising "Bright future," only to take them clandestinely to Nadeswara College in the high security zone in Kankesanturai where Rajapakse's propaganda meeting was held.

EPDP sent similar letters to office bearers of Community Centers and other Public organizations in Jaffna District baiting them with "Consideration of allocation of funds" to lure them to Sridhar theatre for bus trip to Nadeswara college. They had requested each organization to bring atleast five officials to a meeting "to discuss creative opportunities for development of [your] organization."




EPDP is a paramilitary group and political party in UPFA alliance. The anti-LTTE group's cadres collaborate with the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) intelligence in the SLA controlled areas and Colombo.