GOSL Stuffs Ballot Boxes in Eastern Province
AP and BBC both report that the ruling SLFP party in Sri Lanka won its elections in the Eastern Province through widespread fraud, intimidation, and stuffing of ballot boxes. Says AP, election monitors report that "opposition parliamentarians were attacked by mobs, that children were seen casting ballots and that gangs of people were observed shuttling between polling stations to vote numerous times in the Valaichchenai region."
It's noteworthy that stuffing ballot boxes is nothing new in Sri Lanka. In the 1994 Southern Province elections, then-ruling UNP stuffed ballot boxes— but was so wildly unpopular at the time that it lost anyway.
GOSL's recognition of the aspirations of the people of the East is arguably a step in the right direction. However, the Provincial Council is so powerless as to be a mere symbol of self-determination. It is unlikely to asuage the desire of the East to live (as one Eastern resident told me) "dominated by neither Jaffna nor Colombo."
It's noteworthy that stuffing ballot boxes is nothing new in Sri Lanka. In the 1994 Southern Province elections, then-ruling UNP stuffed ballot boxes— but was so wildly unpopular at the time that it lost anyway.
GOSL's recognition of the aspirations of the people of the East is arguably a step in the right direction. However, the Provincial Council is so powerless as to be a mere symbol of self-determination. It is unlikely to asuage the desire of the East to live (as one Eastern resident told me) "dominated by neither Jaffna nor Colombo."
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