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| Sunday, 14 March 2004 |
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Politics |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Freedom Alliance charges: 'Secret UNP plan for N-E ballot-stuffing' A secret meeting held at the Prime Minister's official residence, "Temple Trees", last week had discussed the possible political advantages for the UNP of stationing election polling booths in LTTE held areas so that ballot boxes could be stuffed, sources in the rival Freedom Alliance (UPFA) have charged. The meeting had been attended by certain senior Army and Police officers, some Defence Ministry officials and a former Secretary to the Ministry of Defence, and discussed the possibility of persuading the Elections Commissioner to station polling booths in LTTE held territory, UPFA sources claimed. United National Party sources, however, refused to comment on the UPFA claim. The Freedom Alliance sources claimed that the "Temple Trees" meeting was aimed at organising balloting in the LTTE held areas and that one suggestion had been that polling booths could be set up in those areas. The Alliance sources claimed that the main purpose of the meeting had been to plan the clandestine stuffing of ballot boxes to the advantage of pro-UNP political parties contesting the general elections. These sources, however, pointed out that the Elections Commissioner had ruled out the possibility of stationing polling booths in LTTE areas because of the inability to send Government officials or police to provide security to the polling booths. In this light, the UNP plan was not likely to succeed, they said. The Alliance sources also claimed that the Elections Commissioner's department had earlier rejected suggestions coming from the UNP for the stationing of ballot boxes in the LTTE areas. Elections Commissioner's Department officials, however, were not available for comment. The UPFA sources recalled that a similar situation had occurred in the 1994 General Elections as some top officials in the Police, Army had carried out the plan to set up polling booths in the LTTE held areas. President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga had subsequently appointed a special commission to probe the irregularities occurred in 1994 General Elections. The special commission had found that a number of secret plans had been engineered by some officials for rigging the ballot. |
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