On poll-eve, Lanka promises fair vote

COLOMBO: Worried by the international fallout of an opposition campaign that its post-war presidential election on Tuesday could be rigged by the government, Sri Lanka promised the polls would be held with "absolute integrity" and the election commissioner would have full freedom to carry out his responsibilities. However, it also warned that unscrupulous elements may still try to subvert a free election.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa, facing stiff competitition from his former army chief Gen Sarath Fonseka as he seeks re-election two years early, said the government was committed to peaceful voting.Foreign minister Rohitha Bogollogama invited the foreign media to see for themselves how the polling process was "time-tested" and "independent". However, he warned that it could still be subverted by army deserters, who he alleged, had joined the opposition campaign.
Fonseka, credited with ending the decades-old violent Tamil campaign for an independent homeland, is backed by major opposition parties as a common candidate.
Meanwhile, 68,000 police personnel and 25 army battalions are in place to provide security cover to the election in which votes of the Tamil and Muslim minorities are seen as a deciding factor. There are 14.88 million registered voters and a big turnout is expected on Tuesday. Arrangements have been made for a little over 45,700 war-displaced Tamils to vote at polling stations to which they would be transported by a thousand buses, but a much bigger number may be left out as the rolls are based on 2008 figures. Some 10,000 local and international monitors will be observing the election.
"Having restored peace to the country after 30 years of terrorism, the government is wholly committed to a free and democratic election in every part of the country," the president's secretariat said in a statement. However, the Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV), an independent poll monitoring body, slammed the administration for failing to protect the integrity of the election and expressed concern over the "blatant disregard of the rule of law and the authority of the election commissioner".
There is widespread international focus on the Sri Lankan election, the first since the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were eliminated in May last year. The government faces accusations of war crimes and UN secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon has voiced concern over violence in the run-up to the election, while the United States and Norway had to deny charges from government supporters that they were funding the opposition campaign.
Bogollogama hinted at theories of foreign intervention in the election process being true, but said he would refrain from naming any country until after the election. "Some 600 to 800 deserters have got into some type of lead role in the opposition campaign. They are trained in firearms and have access to firearms, and are under the command of a retired major general," he said. However, Fonseka denied the charge later in the day.