TULF, PLOTE claim massive election fraud

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 October 2000, 18:23 GMT]
"More than ninety thousand votes of the total of about two hundred thousand votes said to have been polled today in Jaffna were rigged" said the leader of the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) Mr.Dharmalingam Sidarthan, the chief candidate of the ex-Tamil militant group contesting the elections to the Sri Lankan Parliament. Mr.Sidarthan told TamilNet Tuesday evening that he has requested the Commissioner of Elections not to declare the results of the Kayts and Kankesanthurai polling divisions in Jaffna because of the massive rigging.

"We estimate that just above hundred thousand votes were actually cast by Jaffna voters today. The Elections Commissioner's office in Jaffna claims that 30.1 percent of the total number of votes in Jaffna, which is nearly two hundred thousand, were cast. Therefore we strongly suspect that of the total votes cast today, eighty to ninety thousand were rigged" Mr.Sidarthan said.

(The Assistant Commissioner of Elections for Jaffna Mr.S. Nadarajah said today that 30.1 percent of the total number of voters registered in Jaffna voted Tuesday)

The PLOTE wrote to the Commissioner of Elections this evening stating that more votes were cast in Kayts today than the number of voters who are actually resident there now.

"We could not send polling agents to Kayts. Although we brought this to your notice, you were unable to take any action. Therefore we request you not to declare the results of the polling divisions of Kayts and Kankesanthurai" the PLOTE said in its letter addressed to the Commissioner of Elections Tuesday evening.

The Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) also wrote to the Commissioner of Elections that the polls should be cancelled in Kayts where, according to the party, the pro-government armed group, the Eelam People's democratic party (EPDP), has thoroughly rigged the elections with impunity.

Mr. V.Anandasangari, senior vice president of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) informed the Returning Officer of Jaffna and the Commissioner of Elections that the polls in the Kayts electorate in Jaffna should be declared null and void because one party had stuffed the ballot boxes with impunity there.

He told TamilNet that no party or group contesting the elections in Jaffna could send polling agents to Kayts today due to intimidation and dire threats by an armed pro-government Tamil group.

Mr.Anandasangari claimed that the outcome of the polls in the electoraldistrict of Jaffna would be completely warped if the results due to unmitigated rigging in Kayts by the EPDP is not declared null and void.

Meanwhile Sri Lankan Government imposed a curfew from 11 p.m. Tuesday night until 6 a.m tomorrow morning as counting began in today's parliamentary polls in more than 800 centres across the island.