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LG polls 1991: When Gladstone had to pack his bags and leave
View(s):By Chandani Kirinde
Elections to local councils draw less enthusiasm from voters, politicians or the media unlike national level elections but an exception was the local government (LG) elections held on May 11, 1991 when events of the day not only made news in Sri Lanka but around the world, and ended with the expulsion from the country of then British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka David Gladstone.
Sri Lanka in 1991 was a very different place from what it is today with the conduct of a free and fair election where voters could exercise their franchise without fear was what voters could only aspire to.
Though by 1991 the country had seen the worst of the violence in the south, conducting a credible election was a daunting task with then President Ranasinghe Premadasa eager to hold the elections in a manner that it would win the endorsement of the international community.
How a local newspaper reported his expulsion then
David Gladstone, who was in the eye of the storm after the 1991 local council election, began his term as Britain’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka in 1987. However, he had his diplomatic tour of duty in the former colony cut short unceremoniously when President Premadasa’s government declared him persona non grata for “unwarranted interference in an internal matter of the country” by his actions on the day of the elections.
The process that set in motion the events that lead to Mr. Gladstone’s expulsion ironically was begun by the Government itself with President Premadasa keen to ensure that the poll was conducted in a free and fair manner. He thus decided to invite international monitors to observe and report on it. 
The monitors were to be supported by an ambassadorial group which included the British High Commissioner.
Mr. Gladstone who wrote his Sri Lanka experience in a book titled ‘A Sri Lankan Tempest – A Real-Life Drama in Five Acts,’ gives an insight into the events of election day 1991 which led to his expulsion.
Ahead of the polls day, Bradman Weerakoon, then Secretary of the President, had invited the ambassadorial group to a meeting and emphasised the seriousness of the government’s intentions to conduct a free and fair election. The ambassadors were told that monitors would have access to all the aspects of the elections including visits to polling booths on the day and the President would pay careful attention to their observations.
‘My colleagues and I discussed among ourselves how we could best contribute to the exercise. The LTTE had publicly declined to take part in any elections they had not themselves organised , which ruled out the North and East, but there were still hundreds of polling stations all over the rest of the island to be monitored. With our limited resources we could not begin to cover them all, but we agreed on a division of labour with each mission conducting spot checks in different districts,” Mr. Gladstone explained in his book.
Upon consulting the Election Commissioner at the time on where the monitors could be most usefully deployed, Mr.Gladstone had been told without hesitation, ‘the deep south’.
Though not keen to go south given a run-in he had had with the then UNP MP of the area H.R.Piyasiri, Mr.Gladstone was persuaded by his ambassadorial colleagues to join those monitoring the Southern Province.
On elections day, the monitors were to travel in a convoy along with the High Commissioner and meet EC representatives in Matara.
‘The day began enjoyably. We travelled in a convoy behind the Assistant Returning Officers team and visited a series of polling stations along the coast to the east of Matara. At each station we found orderly queues of people waiting to cast their votes,” he said.
The problems began at Dikwella, coincidentally the seat of Mr. Piyasiri. There they were accosted by a group of young Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) supporters who complained they had been barred from entering the polling booth by thugs of then ruling United National Party (UNP). Mr. Gladstone had visited the polling booth in question and the Returning Officer (RO) on duty had confirmed what the young men had said.
The RO, having witnessed voter intimidation first hand, was keen to lodge a complaint at the Police Station and had requested Mr. Gladstone to accompany him but the British diplomat had been cautious, explaining he was only an observer and not a part of the election machinery. The RO had insisted, and Mr. Gladstone had agreed rather reluctantly to join him. A statement was recorded at the Police station and Mr. Gladstone ended up signing the document. It was at this point his fate as High Commissioner in Sri Lanka was sealed.
In his book, he reflects on the crucial moment when he decided to sign the statement given to the police. “No doubt I should have foreseen the consequences; no doubt I should have erred on the side of caution. But faced with a stark choice between affirming what I had witnessed and declining to do so on grounds of diplomatic protocol, I thought of all the bloodshed and disappearances, reprisals and repression that had raged around me for the past four years and it felt a very small step to put my signature to a statement I knew to be true; one moreover that might serve to advance, however modestly, the cause of democracy in Sri Lanka.”
There was no immediate reaction from the Government but three days later he heard from the Head of the Foreign Office that the Sri Lankan High Commissioner in London had called on him to lodge a protest against Mr. Gladstone’s interference in the country’s internal affairs.
Mr.Gladstone however was not called to the Foreign Affairs Ministry to explain his conduct. Instead, the Government made several attempts to get London to recall their man in Colombo and when this failed, the message was conveyed to the Foreign Office that “Britain’s representative in Colombo was persona non grata and must pack his bags”.
Despite the bitterness caused by the turn of events, the Sri Lanka Government was “generous” giving him 10 days to pack up and leave.
The announcement of Mr. Gladstone’s expulsion was made by then Foreign Secretary Bernard Tilakaratna on May 30,1991. “Mr. Gladstone’s conduct was an unwarranted interference in the internal affairs of Sri lanka. His conduct exceeded normal diplomatic functions and violated the accepted norms of diplomatic practice. It has also proved prejudicial to the good relations between Sri lanka and Britain,” Mr.Tilakaratna said.
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