Editorial

28th October 2001

INDEX | FRONT PAGE | EDITORIAL | NEWS/COMMENT | EDITORIAL/OPINION | PLUS | BUSINESS | SPORTS | MIRROR MAGAZINE | TV TIMES | HOME | ARCHIVES | TEAM | SEARCH | DOWNLOAD GZIP
The Sunday Times on the Web
INDEX

FRONT PAGE

EDITORIAL

NEWS/COMMENT

EDITORIAL/OPINION

PLUS

BUSINESS

SPORTS

MIRROR MAGAZINE

TV TIMES


HOME

ARCHIVES

TEAM

SEARCH

DOWNLOAD GZIP


No. 8, Hunupitiya Cross Road, Colombo 2. 
P.O. Box: 1136, Colombo.
Editor - steditor@wijeya.lk , News - stnews@wijeya.lk
Features - stfeat@wijeya.lk , Business - btimes@wijeya.lk
Subs - suntimes@wijeya.lk , Funday Times - funtimes@wijeya.lk
EDITORIAL OFFICE
Tel: 326247, 328889, 433272-3.   Fax: 423922, 423258
ADVERTISING OFFICE
Advertising - advt@wijeya.lk , Fax:  423921
CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT
No. 10, Hunupitiya Cross Road, Colombo 2. 
Tel: 435454, 448322, 074 714252.   Fax: 459725

Officers and gentlemen

The stand-off witnessed last week between the Elections Commis- sioner and the Inspector General of Police is the best indicator yet of what is to come in terms of rigging and malpractice in the polls that are scheduled. Not that both these gentlemen or at least those who discharged their duties in the form of their predecessors, have been above board and squeaky clean in the elections that have gone before this one.

Both IGP and Commissioner of Elections have got away too easily in the cases of election fraud that have been previously perpetrated on the people. Only two elections in the recent remembered past have got the nod of approval of the public — the 1977 election where a government changed, and the 1994 election where a government changed again. Not that governments need to change for an election to obtain the people's stamp of approval, but it is a fact that the Referendum of 1982, the elections of 1989, and all the presidential, parliamentary and provincial elections held since 1994 are questionable to say the least.

The role of the police in the elections is that of sentinel, but today the police officer has been reduced to the level of a by-stander at best, that is, if he is not actively conniving in the process of stuffing ballot boxes.

Stooging and dealing in promotions for patronage among senior officers have led to the ordinary constable's position in society becoming quite untenable. The mustachioed police officer may have his limousine to run around in, with the insignia of his office emblazoned on his chest. But some of the lower rankers are in fact ashamed to wear their uniforms because their positions have been compromised due to the stooging that is being carried on by their senior officers.

In many other democracies which still remain democratic in practice, the presence of a solitary police constable in a polling station is sufficient to give the voter the confidence to cast his ballot without intimidation. This is the kind of society that Sri Lanka was, and must return to. 

The issue now usually ends up before the judiciary, which is supposed to be the last bastion of democratic accountability — but the less said about that the better as well. Things should not come to this pass anyway, and elections do not have to inevitably end up in courts of law for further judgment. But it is so, because public officers have been made pawns of political players who have nothing, but their own greater good at heart.


Unfit to vote?

An organization which goes by the acronym ACTFORM (Action network for migrant workers), has written to the Commissioner of Elections saying that the estimated 1 million Sri Lankan migrant workers now employed abroad are not entitled to vote at elections in Sri Lanka because laws in the country do not make provision for such voting.

ACTFORM then goes onto make the valid observations that migrant workers will make a significant difference in the polling and arguably in election results, and that unused votes of migrant workers are abused for the purposes of impersonation.

In a close call and we have had many in the past — one million votes is of tremendous import, but migrant workers, whose contribution to the economy cannot be underscored have no voice, and it's not funny their money is considered good, but their vote is considered expendable?


The Political Column
Return to Editorial/Opinion Contents
Editorial Archives

INDEX | FRONT PAGE | EDITORIAL | NEWS/COMMENT | EDITORIAL/OPINION | PLUS | BUSINESS | SPORTS | MIRROR MAGAZINE | TV TIMES | HOME | ARCHIVES | TEAM | SEARCH | DOWNLOAD GZIP


 
Please send your comments and suggestions on this web site to
The Sunday Times or to Information Laboratories (Pvt.) Ltd.