Not a single complaint during postal voting:

Uva PC polls – UPFA for a victory with honour

by Uditha Kumarasinghe

Youth Affairs and Skills Development Minister Dullas Alahapperuma said the Government’s sole intention is not to win the Uva Provincial Council Election by hook or by crook but to secure a resounding victory with honour.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa had never attempted to win elections through violence. The UPFA Government is always for a dignified victory. Therefore, we would ensure a victory with honour for the people of Uva at the upcoming Provincial Council Election, the Minister told the Sunday Observer.

The Minister said that we should vehemently condemn election related violence. If elections can be won by threatening or resorting to violence the UNP would have been in power today. Our leader President Mahinda Rajapaksa rejects violence outright. That is why the President decided to make the National Identity Card compulsory to vote.

Minister Alahapperuma said the elections conducted during the time of the UNP were full of violence.

Even the vote of SLFP Presidential candidate Hector Kobbekaduwa had been cast by somebody else. SLFP candidate Vijaya Kumaratunga who had won the 1983 Mahara by-election with a majority of 2,384 votes was defeated through poll-rigging by the then UNP Government.

The District Development Council election held in Jaffna in 1981 was yet another example of election violence. Violence was unleashed at the Wayamba Provincial Council election during the regime of former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga as well.

Postal voting for the Uva Provincial Council election concluded recently at 833 polling centres and not a single complaint had been reported. This is a clear indication of the Government’s desire to conduct a free and fair election at Uva. However, the UNP was attempting to portray that the PC elections to be held in Uva would be the worst violence related election in Sri Lanka. To cover up their defeat, another rumour is being spread by the UNP that the Government would postpone the Uva PC elections.