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Sri Lanka | ||
Lanka to hold elections in recaptured east amid violence | ||
2008-03-10 | ||
BATTICALOA, Sri Lanka - Residents in Sri LankaÂ’s tense eastern city of Batticaloa and surrounding towns go to the polls Monday in a vote the government says is key to restoring order in the area, which troops recaptured months ago following more than a decade of rule by the Tamil Tiger rebels. But human rights groups say the government is irresponsibly rushing ahead with the city and village council elections to show that its rule has brought democracy to the long-troubled east. They fear that violence and intimidation will taint the results.
Several such groups were fielding candidates for MondayÂ’s election in Batticaloa city and other towns and villages in the surrounding district, where 101 council seats were up for grabs. On Sunday election officials transported ballot boxes from Batticaloa to village polling booths guarded by police with rifles. A Batticaloa school was being used as the election coordination and counting center. Authorities _ fearing Tamil Tiger suicide bomb attacks _ frisked officials, reporters and observers as they entered. Government spokesman for national security and defense Keheliya Rambukwella said the elections were an important step toward cementing democracy in the area, even if the environment was not perfect. "Here you have democracy. There is a serious development taking place. You have freedom of movement, but again, until the last six months, it was in the clutches of a major terrorist group," he said, referring to the Tamil Tigers. But a coalition of human rights organizations said there was so much violence that it would be impossible to hold a fair poll. The islandÂ’s main opposition United National Party and the main regional party, the Tamil National Alliance, were boycotting the election. They said they could not take part alongside armed parties.
Many groups have declined to monitor the elections because the intimidation level was so high that making an accurate report would be impossible, said Sunila Abeysekara, executive director of the Colombo-based human rights group Inform. The government was sending 4,200 police officers to Batticaloa and the other towns holding elections. Five officers would guard each of the 285 polling stations, police said. | ||
Posted by:Steve White |