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The build-up to the Eastern Province’s top slots heated up with almost all major political players crying foul over the actions of their enemies. Leading political parties including the United National Party and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna predicted the upcoming crucial week as very eventful and incident filled period. The country’s leading election monitoring body, Peoples Action for Free and Fair Polls (PAFFREL) also predicted trouble in the run up to the Eastern Province Provincial Council Elections, scheduled for May 10.

PAFFREL Chairman Kingsley Rodrigo said that most of the complaints made with regard to election violations have been by the main opposition, UNP and they mostly concern misuse of state resources. He also noted that the fight between the Tamils and Muslims by attempting to appoint their own chief minister has also fuelled problems in the three districts, Ampara, Batticaloa and Trincomalee. “We are expecting the next week or so to be the most crucial and probably the most violent filled days and it is unlikely that this election will be peaceful like the Batticaloa local government polls held in March this year,” Rodrigo said.

The PAFFREL chief quoting his observers also claimed that the Pillaiyan Group appeared to be canvassing for the eastern polls sans arms, contrary to claims made by several other parties actively engaged in election work in the province. However, UNP strongman, Ravi Karunanayake in response to Rodrigo’s claims charged that PAFFREL was doing nothing and they were merely paying lip service to the government.

“There is an undeclared war being fought in the east. The situation in the provinces is very tense. The government is using all kinds of tactics to win the election,” he charged. He noted that the UNP was doing its best to bring these developments to the notice of the Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake and even the police, but said that during most instances even the police are helpless because they have to cater to the wishes of the ‘top’ say. “With the race gathering momentum, we fear there can be many violent incidents in the coming weeks,” he added.

Sri Lanka Muslim Congress Deputy Secretary General Nizam Kariapper also echoed similar sentiments. He also charged that the government backed groups, including Pillaiyan, and SLMC rebels M L A M Hisbullah and Ameer Ali are running riot in their areas and this has made most of their supporters very insecure. “Fear is creeping into them because they know what sort of havoc can be caused by such elements. They can see many openly carrying arms and this is intimidating most people,” he said.

JVP MP Vijitha Herath noted that the coming days were the climax period. He added that by taking the present developments in the province into consideration it was very likely that a turn for the worse can be expected as a result of government factions. “The Pillaiyan Group carrying arms equals to the government carrying arms because the TMVP supports the government. The situation is getting very tense here despite our members carrying out campaigning,” he noted.

He noted that most of the problems were in Batticaloa. “We have also heard that very powerful people from the government have had a meeting with home guards during which they have insisted that all home guards should vote for the government at the election on May 10,” Herath claimed. He added that they were in possession of the tape in which the demand was made recently. Meanwhile, TMVP’s spokesman Azad Moulana expressed optimism that his party will sweep the polls and a candidate from his party would be appointed as the chief minister.

“We are confidant we will win Batticaloa and also Ampara. We are working our way through Trincomalee so we hope to win all three districts,” he added. Government candidates including M L A M Hisbullah were not available for comment at the time this edition went to press.

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