SINHALA Election malpractices are regrettably nothing new in Sri Lanka: nor is the wholly hypocritical ritual condemnation of them in tones..!!!

Election malpractices:
Loved in private and condemned in publicBy S. L.Gunasekara

Election malpractices are regrettably nothing new in Sri Lanka: nor is the wholly hypocritical ritual condemnation of them in tones of simulated righteous indignation by all major parties. What would be new if it did happen is a political party taking disciplinary action against any of its Members of Parliament or other members for having indulged in such manifestly unlawful conduct.

Thus, the UNP has taken no action against any of its members for election malpractices committed at the infamous referendum of 1983 or the General Election of 1989; nor the SLFP/PA against any of its members who committed the most bestial of election malpractices at the infamous Dedigama By Election of 1973 or the even more infamous Wayamba Provincial Council Election of around 1996; while the UNP/UNF which was most vociferous in their condemnation of those whom they identified as being the principal villains in those murderous attacks on democracy at Wayamba, welcomed those very villains into their fold with open arms. The `born again democrats’ of the JVP [now in disguise as the DNA] which is more vociferous in its verbal championing of democracy than any other [Abraham Lincoln included] has neither condemned nor sought the forgiveness of the nation for the wave of election malpractices committed by them at the Provincial Council Elections of 1988, the Presidential Election of 1988 and the Parliamentary Elections of 1989, when they committed countless murders and acts of intimidation to prevent voters from exercising their democratic rights. (It must here be remembered that the JVP’s current leader Amarasinghe was a member of its Politbureau at the time it committed such acts of rampant terrorism.) Perhaps taking a ‘leaf’ out of the JVP’s ‘book’, the LTTE, through like acts of rampant terrorism engineered the victory of candidates of its lackeys of the TNA in the Northern Province at the General Election of 2004, but the TNA neither condemned such acts nor took nor caused to be taken nor sought to be caused to be taken, any action against those who indulged in such acts of terror. The conduct of the TNA after the LTTE (providentially for the Country, as it turned out) refused to permit the Tamils living under their thrall to exercise their franchise at the Presidential Election of 2005 was identical.

Many of the complaints of election malpractices that we hear today relate to the thaappa paappa brigade of candidates of the UPFA who defaced the walls and environs of our cities with posters ‘cut outs’ and ‘bill boards’ featuring their repellent faces. However, while the thaappa paappa brigade of the UPFA with ‘stalwarts’ such as Duminda Silva, Thilanga Sumathipala, Rohitha Bogollagama, Wimal Weerawansa, AHM Fowzie, Susil Premjayanth and Gamini Lokuge in the lead, the thaappa paappa brigade of the parties of the Opposition were not far behind, with ‘stalwarts’ like Ranil Wickremesinghe, Sarath Fonseka, Sunil Handunetti, Maharoof, Muzammil, Jayantha De Silva, Mohan Lal Grero, Rosy Senanayake, Wijayadasa Rajapakse and ASM Perera in the lead. Likewise, the Presidential Election saw the Country littered with posters, cut-outs etc of Mahinda Rajapakse and Sarath Fonseka in flagrant breach of the Election Laws.

The inescapable conclusion, therefore, is that all parties are addicted to committing election malpractices and that the quantum of such malpractices committed by candidates of any party will depend on its ability to do so, which in turn makes the candidates of each incumbent Government the chief culprits with many candidates of other parties writhing in jealousy because such candidates of the Government have done what they would have loved to have done but could not do because of the lack of opportunity!

It is, to my mind, the same with corruption which is roundly condemned by all and engaged in by virtually all who have the opportunity of doing so – so much so that it seems to me that when most members of the Opposition accuse the incumbent government or any of its members of corruption, they do so not through any kind of dislike or opposition to ‘corruption’ itself, but through overwhelming jealousy that it is the members of the government and not they who have the opportunity of being corrupt! This fact is borne out, among other things, by the wholly inadequate legislative provisions for eradicating or even curtailing corruption; the cosmetic and utterly ineffective provisions of the Declaration Of Assets And Liabilities Law; the ridiculous provisions of the cosmetic Commission To Investigate Allegations Of Bribery Or Corruption Act which, among other things, ensures that two thirds of its members shall be ‘geriatrics’, and gives the Commission hardly any room for acting independently; and the failure to prosecute the several Ministers and Members of Parliament who have failed to submit declarations of assets and liabilities.

Mahinda Rajapakse has achieved what no other Head of State has done before, by liberating this Country from the LTTE. If only he would set two more ‘firsts’, by eradicating, or at least curbing election malpractices and corruption, he would surely go down in history as the greatest Head of State/Government in Independent Sri Lanka.

A golden opportunity to commence such a ‘crusade’ has been handed to him on a platter by the annulment of the polls at seventeen (17) Polling Stations at Nawalapitiya and one (1) at Trincomalee.

Those annulments have arisen, according to news reports, as a result of complaints of acts of rampant thuggery committed by supporters of candidates of the government: the fact that the Commissioner of Elections has annulled those Polls makes evident the fact that there was substance in such complaints.

The result of the outrageous acts which caused such annulments are horrifying, millions of rupees of public funds will now have to be expended on a fresh poll, and the work in several Government Departments including the Police will be further disrupted by their staff being deployed once more for ‘election duty’; and, it will be the long suffering public who will pay the penalty for the misdeeds of such thugs.

While a comprehensive inquiry to bring the culprits to book must necessarily be held as a matter of urgency, there is much that can be done immediately.

Each electorate has, to the best of my knowledge, one or more ‘Organizers’ appointed by the ruling party. Such Organizers are appointed to give leadership to the members of the party in such electorates and to galvanise both them and others to follow the policies of that Party. Clearly, discipline and not thuggery must necessarily be the policy of the UPFA/SLFP. A leader must take responsibility for the conduct of those whom he leads. Accordingly, it behoves President Mahinda Rajapakse to forthwith suspend the Party’s Organizers of the Nawalapitiya and Trincomalee electorates for at least the ‘crime’ of failing to prevent the commission of such outrageous acts of thuggery and thereby bringing the Party into disrepute, pending a full scale inquiry; and to ensure that such Organizers, if they are elected Members of Parliament will not be given any ministerial office at any level, at least until the conclusion of such inquiry.

How Mahinda Rajapakse acts in respect of this matter will surely be an acid test of his probity. He must not fail – for such failure would not only mar his magnificent election victory but also cause irreparable damage to the people’s confidence in the government and hence to the Country.



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