Fonseka urges Commissioner of Elections to ensure his security

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 January 2010, 10:08 GMT]
Former Commander of the Sri Lanka Army and the opposition presidential candidate General (retd) Sarath Fonseka has urged the Sri Lankan Commissioner of Elections to take steps to ensure his security, claiming there were attempts to arrest him. The movement of Fonseka remains restricted as troops have surrounded the hotel. Meanwhile, Mahinda Rajapaksa continued his lead by a majority of 1.8 million votes when final counting was in progress. He polled 5,885,836 (57.88) against Gen Sarath Fonseka's 4,082,363 (40.15) counted till 3:00 p.m.

Sarath Fonseka in an urgent letter to the Commissioner of Election Wednesday afternoon said he moved into hotel Cinnamon Lake as there were attempts to surround his office and arrest him.

Fonseka, in his letter said that ten of his bodyguards had been taken into custody by the Military Police.

The Commissioner of Elections Dayananda Dissanayake is to announce the final results of the presidential election Wednesday evening around 4:30 at an event at the Elections Secretariat.