S. Lanka’s Religious leaders call for fair presidential election

(December 28, 2009) Religious leaders in Sri Lanka have appealed to authorities to ensure that next month’s presidential election is free and fair and that state-run media are impartial in the run-up to the polls. They also complained that thousands of displaced people in the north hadn’t registered their names for voting ahead of the Dec. 24 deadline. Buddhist, Christian and Muslim leaders called on election commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake in his Colombo office on Dec. 22 and urged for a free and fair election, complaining that information that voters are receiving from both print and electronic media are complicated and biased toward the government. Auxiliary Bishop Marius Peiris of Colombo told reporters they also raised the issue of the rights of displaced voters who are in camps for the internally displaced. Sri Lanka goes to the polls on Jan. 26 in what is expected to be show down between incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa and his former army commander, Sarath Fonseka. The religious leaders, however, pointed out that there had already been reports of misuse of state property for canvassing, threats to contestants, party offices being burnt and growing election violence. Several watchdog groups are set to monitor coverage of the campaign by government-controlled print and electronic media, including websites. There are 14 million registered voters for the election which will be contested by 22 candidates, including a Buddhist monk.