Monday, 8 December 2014 00:00
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Nomination day has finally arrived, with some 20-odd candidates enthusiastically readying for what is essentially a two horse race. Yet the signal gun today is also for the Elections Commissioner and Police Chief, who now have the greatest responsibility in ensuring a clean race.
Early indications do not inspire confidence. Thousands of cutouts and billboards have festooned the capital and rural regions alike well before a presidential election was declared. Though authorities have been attempting to brush off culpability by pithily claiming they were put up by “public request” for President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s birthday, most people are not convinced.
Rajapaksa himself last Friday assured cut outs would be removed from Monday and took refuge under the same excuse as the officials. Yet the public have noticed the bulk of cutouts appeared long after his birthday and staunchly display themselves in gross violation of municipal and environmental law. This early and blatant disregard for public property, State funds and the law is a symbol of all that is wrong with the Government and why even its members are pleading for reform.
The presidential election will be held on 8 January and early indications are it will be a tightly-run race with Government supporters suspected of instigating sporadic violence. Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) says it has received reports of four incidents of election violence with the use of firearms after common candidate Maithripala Sirisena declared his candidacy. No one was injured in the alleged attacks but they augur ill for the future.
After the election was declared, shooting incidents were reported from Kandy, Maggona, Kalutara, Madampe, Puttalam (two incidents), and Mawilmada, according to monitors. Although the vehicle used to carry out the shooting incident at Maggona has been identified and despite the availability of CCTV footage, the Police has not taken steps to arrest any suspects, insists CaFFE Executive Director Rajith Keerthi Tennakoon.
People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL), another monitoring group, has called on the Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya to establish a special Police unit that answers directly to him, pointing out it would assist in enforcing election law. There are signs this could happen but Deshapriya has been content with feet-dragging that could have serious repercussions in the weeks ahead as the Rajapaksa election juggernaut spares no effort in ramping up its campaign.
Joining in the chorus, in a letter addressed to all secretaries of Government ministries, Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) has requested that adequate arrangements be made for the safe custody and preservation of public resources belonging to the Government during the presidential election. The Bar Association of Sri Lanka is another organisation striving to bolster the law at least to some extent.
At first glance it may already be too late to safeguard public assets as everything – from buses to lampposts – has been festooned with cut-outs of the President. Having failed to empower the Elections Commissioner on numerous previous instances, it could well be that local voters will have to deal with a bumper harvest of violations from that oversight. Nomination day is a little late to start following the law but in this instance the future of a country depends on the adage “better late than never”.
