SRI LANKA-ELECTION/ELECTION COMMISSIONER NEWSER Sri Lankan election chief hails parliamentary election

Record ID: 143627

  • Title: SRI LANKA-ELECTION/ELECTION COMMISSIONER NEWSER Sri Lankan election chief hails parliamentary election
  • Date: 17th August 2015
  • Summary: COLOMBO, SRI LANKA (AUGUST 17, 2015) (REUTERS) ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS OF SRI LANKA'S ELECTION COMMISSIONER MAHINDA DESHAPRIYA SEATED WITH OFFICIALS (SOUNDBITE) (English) SRI LANKA'S ELECTION COMMISSIONER, MAHINDA DESHAPRIYA, SAYING: "We are very happy to say that we have conducted peaceful and free and fair elections. According to the police rep
  • Embargoed: 1st September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Sri Lanka
  • Country: Sri Lanka
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA4YPCW3Z87WD3BB2C76P8662BO
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Sri Lankan Election Commissioner said on Monday (August 17) that strict enforcement of law, especially among politicians and activists, ensured a violence free elections in a country that has a history if political feuding.
    Sri Lanka held a parliamentary election that will decide whether ex-president Mahinda Rajapaksa can stage a political comeback, as the leader who toppled him in January manoeuvred to block his path back to power.
    The nationalist strongman has set his sights on becoming premier of a government led by his Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). But the former ally who beat him at the polls, President Maithripala Sirisena, now leads the party and rules that out.
    Their bitter power struggle has overshadowed the election on the Indian Ocean island of 20 million people, which has a history of political feuding that has often spilled over into violence and even the assassination of its leaders.
    Sri Lankan Election Commissioner, Mahinda Deshapriya, said there were no reports of any major violence over the past 48 hours - a significant development for his team.
    "We are very happy to say that we have conducted peaceful and free and fair elections. According to the police reports and my assistant commissioner's reports, situation is so far so good," he said. "I can say (in) this election we have not heard any major incidence (of violence) in last 48 hours, that is very very good development."
    With no exit polls available, first trends were expected from counting overnight and final results due on Tuesday. Turnout, estimated by observers at 65 percent, was below that of the historic presidential poll but higher than five years ago.
    "We think we can start the count without any problem. I hope there will be no annulment," Deshapriya said.
    The election chief has often been credited for bringing sanity back into the Sri Lankan electoral practices with his no-nonsense approach and strict enforcement of the law.
    "We educate the people and the politicians and their activists - law is above anyone, everyone. Law prevailed, that is the only thing from that we achieved (a free and fair election). We asked them to do everything according to the law," Deshapriya said.
    The burly 69-year-old Rajapaksa is revered as a war hero by many of Sri Lanka's Sinhala speaking Buddhist majority for crushing a 26-year Tamil uprising in 2009. Opponents accuse him of running a corrupt, brutal and dynastic regime - charges he denies.
    Sirisena quit Rajapaksa's government last year to run against him, pulling off a stunning victory in the Jan. 8 presidential election.
    Yet he has moved only belatedly to assert his control over the SLFP and thwart the ambitions of his erstwhile ally and party rival to become Sri Lanka's next prime minister.
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