Elections chief mum on coup attempt

by Manjula Fernando

Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya said he could not deny or confirm of any coup d'etat attempt that is said to have taken place in the wee hours of the day after the Presidential election. “I cannot vouch that nothing of the sort happened or there was an attempt like that. It has to be investigated and presented with evidence.”

He said however, the claims that his office and the counting centres at Royal College and D.S. Senanayake College in Colombo were surrounded by the Army was mere speculation. He also denied that the then Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa stormed his office to meet him as part of this coup d'etat on election night.

“Nothing of the sort happened”, the Commissioner said adding the last time the then Defence Secretary came to the Elections Secretariat was on January 27, 2010, the day the previous Presidential election results were announced.

He confirmed that there was an attempt to find the names of the officers on polling duty, but added that this too cannot be directly linked to any unholy business since it could well be within the parameters of providing security during a very vulnerable phase.

The elections Chief said the secretariat as a practice did not publicize the names of those in charge of Polling Stations but the letters of appointment to regular staff are sent to their respective offices, thus there is a chance to know who was on election duty.

Of the news that the military had been stationed on standby near counting centres in certain areas, a gesture that was linked to an attempt by the defeated President to stay in power, he said this too could be in keeping with his request to provide security to the polling stations and counting centres in case there was an untoward situation. “I asked the IGP and the DIG in charge of elections to call for reinforcements from the military if such a situation arose.

Military presence could be justified in that sense therefore I cannot say there was a coup attempt for certain.”

The Elections Department and the counting centres were given given STF guards, in addition to the police security. There were over 50 strong STF force in the Department on Election day and on the next day. A few of the STF guards were still on duty at the Department.

When I got calls from different parties including civil society members that there was military presence, I called the Chief of Defence Staff and the Army Commander, they assured me that the Army will not get involved in the election.

However, the Commissioner said he could neither confirm or deny that there was any attempt of a coup d'etat and that is up to the relevant parties to hold an investigation to verify the truth.

Speaking to the media last Friday, the Commissioner explained the reasons for the delay in releasing the results at one point in the wee hours of January 7 between 3.10 am to 4.11am. With allegations rife that there was an attempt to hijack the process of releasing the results.

The results held up were of Kayts, Vanni postal votes, Jaffna, Vadukkodai, Kankasanturai, Mahanuwara postal votes, Balapitiya, Mahanuwara, Moneragala and Mulkirigala results. He said he signed these results between 3.10 am to 3.50 am.

The delay had been due to a mishap by the election officers feeding the results to the computers at the Department.

The server had been down for nearly an hour due to their actions which is not at all sinister. “There was a delay in communicating this to me, or else the matter would have been rectified earlier without leaving any doubt in the minds of the people.”

He said when this happened there were a lot of people seated in front of him in his office at the Elections Secretariat including Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe.

Commenting on the up coming Parliamentary election schedule, he added that his office and staff were ready to hold any national election if given ten weeks notice.

The Commissioner said that if there was a change of election law or if the Government brought about a new Elections Act, in keeping with the proposals presented so far, he may need three months to familiarize himself with the new law and get on with election preparations.

The date of the next General election, if it is going to be held in April or June, has to be decided by President Maithripala Sirisena.

Commissioner Deshapriya said the current Government can continue in office till April next year during which time it's term will expire. If an early election is called, under the present Constitution, it can be done at the President's discretion.