Nittewa

This is for our new resident troll Kesbewa and anyone else who believes that Mahinda won the South fair and square.

Despite whatever PAFFREL and CMEV says he did not. We all know why PAFFREL's been saying that the election was free and fair. Let's see if PAFFREL is one of those NGO groups that the JVP comes down on. I bet not. Why? Because the leadership of PAFFREL has always been pro-SLFP/PA/UPFA and it's been a good tool for the blues to use whenever an election comes around. All you have to do is look at PAFFREL statements over the past few elections to see which way they lean in the political spectrum.

Mahinda did win the South. There's no question about that. But just how much did vote rigging effect the result? Well, not much really. But then, the margin between the two candidates is not much either is it? So did the vote rigging in the South have an impact on the result of the election?

I think it did.

So what evidence do I have? I personally witnessed large scale impersonation and ballot box stuffing in several areas in the Beliatta electorate. Particularly in the Aranwela MV polling booth. This was carried out by Southern Provincial Council member D V Upul and his gang. This same gang were responsible for beating up an independent monitor near Beliatta junction later. A few miles from Beliatta, in Getamanna too large scale impersonation and intimidation of voters was taking place in both the polling centers in the area. The UPFA supporters all gathered outside the Getamanna Vijaya MV.

In Tangalle vehicles without license plates bearing stickers of Mahinda were crusing around. There were many reports of polling booths in Tangalle town and in the interior having their ballot boxes stuffed. Mahinda Rajapakse's son Namal who had earlier brought his gang to Tangalle for the election was primarily responsible for this. Namal is only 19 years old, but is already turning out to be quite a thug. We saw that when he gathered thugs from Mt Lavinia in the vicinity of his school St Thomas' College. He's already got his own crew and no longer needs daddy's bodyguards. So much for everyone who says Mahinda's boys are nice guys.

There were similar reports sent in by election observers from Kalmunai, from Hanguranketha, from Kuliyapitiya. There are several reports that have been put out by the various groups that were monitoring the elections and if you compile all of them you can get a good idea of exactly how the UPFA engaged in election violence and ballot box stuffing. The violence and intimidation perpetrated by the PA+JVP+Allies was widespread, and was seen in all parts of the island.

If the margin between the two candidates had been larger by maybe another two or three hundred thousand then maybe all this rigging would not really have changed anything because Mahinda would have won anyway. But the margin is only 186,000 votes. And even if they stuffed a few ballots into each ballot box they could make that figure. And I believe that if this election had been truely free and fair, even if we don't count the votes in the Jaffna, Vanni, Trincomalee and Batticaloa districts, Ranil would still have won.

So think again before you claim that Mahinda won fair and square.

Go on, bark and say he won. Yes he did win, and you may shout that out from the rooftops. But don't claim he won fair and square, because he did not. But know who you are electing into power. He is a man who blatantly encourages election violence in his own electorate. His own son has been seen stuffing ballot boxes there. Election monitors get beaten up there.

This is a man who has shown no committment to democracy or democratic principles. This is a man who over the past few months has shown that he is willing to sacrifice anything to become the president of this country. This is a man whose personality now reeks of a powerhungry dictator.

If this is the guy you're going to trust to run your country then there's something seriously wrong with you, and maybe you deserve a leader like that.

posted by Morquendi @  11:14 AM   || 10 opinion/s ||