Allegation on LTTE deal baseless
Fact-finding report reveals :
by Shanika Sriyananda
 The government in a fact finding report has revealed that the
allegations levelled against the government by certain elements in the
United National Party (UNP), and SLFP dissidents that the government had
a secret agreement with the LTTE to win the 2005 Presidential election,
is baseless and a conspiracy against the government.
The two dissidents Mangala Samaraweera and Sripathy Sooriarachchi,
soon after their removal from their ministerial positions made the
controversial statement about the 'government's secret deal with the
LTTE' to win the 2005 Presidential election.
The special report titled ' 2005 Presidential Elections - The North
and East election problem' released by the Research and Development
Division of the Ministry of Information and Media, has pointed out
clearly that the Presidential candidate Mahinda Rajapaksa would have
suffered a major loss due to LTTE's violent activities activated through
the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to prevent a free and fair election in
the North and East.
Based on six points - the views by the LTTE and TNA before November
17, the PAFFEREL report on the activities carried out by the LTTE on the
election day, summary of the 2005 Presidential Election results, Summary
of the Presidential Elections from 1982 to 1994, the proposals for a
free and fair election by the Alliance General Secretary submitted to
the Commissioner of Elections before the 2005 Presidential Elections and
press reports on the situation in the North and East Election 2005.
The report, states that the main finding is that the LTTE, in their
dream for a separate State was on a strong footing that there was no
chance to elect a Sri Lankan leader in a democratic election and they
have tactfully used the TNA to make it a reality.
 In a media briefing held after a three-and a half-hour discussion
between the LTTE and TNA in Kilinochchi, according to the report, they
highlighted the need of avoiding casting votes on November 17.
The LTTE political wing leader Tamil Selvam and other five LTTE
members and 21 members of the TNA including R. Sambandan who
participated in the media briefing where R. Sambandan clearly said "No
point of supporting the two Presidential candidates.
These two Sinhala political parties ruled the country before and
after the war. When analysing it is obvious that the Tamil people cannot
keep faith on these two candidates and there is no benefit for the Tamil
community by keeping hopes in the forthcoming Presidential election".
 In the monitoring report on the behaviour of the LTTE in the North
and East on November 17 by the People's Action for Free and Fair
Election (PAFFEREL) it was stated that " The LTTE is mainly responsible
for casting the least number of votes in the North and East.
It states that the public was interested in casting votes but the
request by the LTTE and its obliged organisations not to cast votes had
prevented the public casting their votes in fear of unseen risks.
According to PAFFEREL report, the security in the North and East was
bad with the commencement of the election campaigns and several
incidence including the killing of three unarmed police officers and an
attack to the EPDP head office in Jaffna, were reported.
In Jaffna alone the number of voting centres had reduced from 370 to
119. There were cluster centres and there was a need to deploy
considerable number of police officers to prevent violence. Except in a
few centres with tight security, in most of the centres the casting of
votes were on a very low key.
A few days before the election, the People's Organisations Alliance,
which is based in Jaffna and a LTTE sided organisation had distributed
leaflets and displayed posters stating that November 17 was a Day of
mourning and people in Jaffna should boycott the election. The posters
were displayed in bus halts, religious places, boundary walls, filling
stations and voting centres.
 Another poster by the 'Mahajana Balakaya' (People's Task Force)
warned " Nobody engage in any election campaign, nor continue such
activities. This is not a warning but an order".
According to the PAFFEREL election monitoring report, the Jaffna
district was fully geared to hold the election but public interest for
casting votes was very low and the percentage of casting votes in most
of the centres were zero and it is as a whole only 1.5 per cent. People
avoided casting votes due to their own choices or due to fear.
The PAFFEREL report included several violent incidents which took
place in the North and East before the election and on the day of the
election in its monitoring report.
The Ministry of Information and Media in its report comparing the
number of votes received by UNP candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe and
Mahinda Rajapaksa stated that Ranil Wickremesinghe had received more
than 1999 votes in the 2005 election.
He received Ampara (55.81), Batticaloa (79.51), Jaffna (70.20),
Trincomalee (66.31) and Vauniya (78.89 votes at the 2005 Presidential
election.
The report states that Ranil Wickremesinghe had received more than
75,166 votes in 2005 than at the 1999 election.
Meanwhile, according to the report of the 392,917 declared votes
Ranil Wickremesinghe had received 279,509 votes from the LTTE controlled
areas in the Vanni, Batticaloa and Trincomalee in the North and East.
Apart from Kilinochchi, Ranil Wickremesinghe had received the highest
number of votes from all other LTTE controlled areas.
The report has also quoted an interview on Mahinda-Koti givisumak
thibune ne (There was no pact between Mahinda and the LTTE) with UNP MP
and former Minister P. Dayaratne, where he said that the allegation was
mud slinging and there was no secret agreement between President Mahinda
Rajapaksa and the LTTE.
Another press clipping stated about awareness campaigns launched by
the LTTE to educate government officials assigned for election duties.
"If Ranil Wickremesinghe is elected we can get benefits. So all
government officials should vote for Ranil Wickremesinghe", it quoted a
statement by an LTTE leader.
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