Posted by - “MR Is A Rogue President Without Integrity And Dignity” – Gen. Fonseka
By Mandana Ismail Abeywickrema __ Photos by Asoka Fernando
Gen. Sarath Fonseka
Common Presidential Candidate General Sarath Fonseka in an exclusive interview with this newspaper after the presidential election said he would stand by the millions of people who voted for him and continue in politics. “I promise the people that I will not let them down. Although Mahinda Rajapaksa rigged the election and robbed the presidency, I am the people’s president. Mahinda Rajapaksa is a rogue president without any integrity and dignity,” he said. General Fonseka said he hoped to contest the general election under the same coalition as in the presidential election.Excerpts:
Q: You say the presidential election was rigged — on what basis do you make this allegation?
A: The presidential election was definitely corrupt. There were attacks on people and even murders. I attended a funeral of a person yesterday who died due to an attack during the election period. Even when he was being treated in hospital after the attack, he was kept in handcuffs. We were harassed right throughout. Even on the day of nominations we were harassed. They tried to block my office to prevent me from handing in nominations. They had planned to assassinate me on election night after surrounding my office and house.
Throughout the election period they tried to arrest and intimidate all opponents. It was a completely corrupt election. There was also the abuse of state machinery, resources, state media and threats leveled against other media institutions. All media personnel were under pressure. It was not a free and fair election from the beginning. On election day there were lots of attacks, overrunning of counting centers, attacks on polling booth agents, assaulting and shooting people and attacking private properties. The Presidential Security personnel have been terrorising people. The President and a high official in the defence establishment have been directly and indirectly threatening people like they have been threatening me.
They were trying to arrest my family members and tried to arrest my son-in-law on a false story. On election night they came to the hotel where we were staying and surrounded the place. We stayed at a hotel for security reasons because there was a plan to assassinate us when we were at our residence. All of us from the opposition including the Opposition Leader moved in to a hotel. Then they surrounded the place and tried to arrest and threaten us and even blocked the roads preventing us from moving about. It was Idi Amin-like behaviour. Luckily, the people had seen the movie a few days back and they knew what it was like.
After election day we have found ballot papers thrown away and burnt. They have told the media that these ballot papers are false. The Elections Commissioner looked at these ballot papers and saw the index numbers of the papers, the frank and the mark saying they are rejected votes. With all this some politicians have shamelessly come on television saying these are not valid papers. The election was totally rigged. My people are still in custody, even in Kurunegala there were some arrested saying they were army deserters. None of them were deserters. Even Brigadiers, Colonels and others have been arrested. Even journalists who worked for me are still hiding and some have fled the country.
Q: Will you file an election petition with the Supreme Court?
A: Yes, we are preparing an election petition.
Q: What are the hard facts you would use to back your allegations?
A: There were no agents in the main counting centers like Ratnapura, Anuradhapura and Puttalam. We found burnt ballot papers in Gampaha and Ratnapura. In many other areas the polling agents have been assaulted. We say that the 1.8 million votes were rigged, but we cannot find an incident for each of the votes. We say that the whole process has been violated. When you mark a question paper, if one question has been cheated the whole paper is rejected. If agents have been chased away from three main counting centers, it is good enough for the Elections Commissioner to call the election null and void. When the Elections Commissioner saw the burnt ballot papers, he agreed there was something wrong, but most probably under pressure, he goes before the media and says he accepts the results.
Q: Are you saying the Election Commissioner accepted that the burnt ballot papers were valid?
A: Yes, we had a number of them. If you look at some of these ballot papers you will see that in one, a person has marked “1” in front of the swan, but some one else has added two other marks opposite two other symbols. On another ballot paper a person has crossed the box before the swan, but another person has added three other crosses. It is the same person who has spoilt these two votes. Then on another paper a person has marked a cross against the swan, it is correct, but it has been rejected. All the ballot papers have numbers. However, the Elections Commissioner looked at the numbers, but could not find from where the papers were.
There needs to be a system where the numbers could indicate the booth to which the respective vote belonged. The counting officer at the respective center from where these ballot papers were recovered from said nothing went wrong. He must be deaf and blind. Even near the Gampaha counting center we found ballot papers half burnt, but they also had numbers. The Elections Commissioner can trace all these ballot papers as they all have numbers. This has happened in most counting centers, but people are scared to come and given evidence because they will be killed. Like Idi Amin, Mahinda Rajapaksa will go after them.
Q: But didn’t you underestimate President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s support base? When The Sunday Leader visited the south, we predicted a clear win for President Rajapaksa two days before polling…
A: The people have also spoken to us in the south. Those who attended the meetings said it was a record, as they had never seen such participation at meetings. Even our organisers said people were openly supporting us. Even in Hambantota our organisers said it was 50/50 there. In Ambalangoda and Balapitiya, if you speak to the people today, eight out of ten will say they voted for me. But according to the results in Ambalangoda and Balapitiya, I didn’t even get half the votes Mahinda Rajapaksa got.
Q: But many people we spoke to in the south told us they were undecided… while an equal number said they would vote for Rajapaksa.
A: Nobody would say they were going to vote for Sarath Fonseka before the elections, they would have been murdered.
Q: A large number of middle-class voters we spoke to pre-election, said they feared you due to your military background and felt they did not have a choice between you and the President. Do you feel you lost out on the middle-class votes?
A: No. A lot of people voted for me. How can that fear only be in Sri Lanka? What about other countries in the world? There have been Generals who have politically led other countries and they have done so much good.
Q: Politically – where will you go from here?
A: I will go ahead. I can’t let down the millions of people who voted for me. I will contest again at the next election — most probably under the same coalition.
Q: How exactly will this coalition function at the general election?
A: It is too early for me to say now. We are still negotiating but are trying to go ahead with the same coalition as in the presidential election.
Q: At the presidential election you said you had no party. Have you joined a party now?
A: The Swan is my party.
Q: But are you a member of the New Democratic Front?
A: Yes, otherwise I cannot contest from the party.
Q: The New Democratic Front is a member of the UNF. Are you therefore a member of the UNF?
A: Yes, it is a member of the UNF, but we do not want to contest under the alliance led by the UNP. I came through the New Democratic Front and the UNF supported me and the JVP also supported me. Without me, the JVP would not have supported the UNF. All the people rallied around because I was leading the campaign.
Q: Do you plan to contest the general election under the swan symbol?
A: My plan is to contest the general election under the same coalition as in the presidential election under the swan symbol.
Q: Have you had discussions with the UNF and the JVP in this regard?
A: Yes, discussions are going on.
Q: So you would not be joining the UNF?
A: The UNP clearly indicated that they would like me to be there deputy leader and I said no.
Q: Are you willing to work under Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe?
A: That has not been decided yet as the discussions are still going on. As I said earlier, I want the same coalition as during the presidential election. I led that coalition.
Q: Where do you see yourself one year from now?
A: The general election is coming up, so I will be campaigning for that.
Q: You have been seen as a vindictive and vicious person by the media with relation to your alleged involvement in the attack on several media personnel. In fact the media feared a continuance of attacks on the media if you were elected to office. How do you respond to the allegations of attacking media personnel?
A: Of the media people who were attacked and killed at the time, I think about two people had written against the war, against me and how the war was conducted. But so many others had not even written about the war. It is not only journalists who were attacked and killed, even politicians were killed. Raviraj and Pillayan’s Secretary were killed. Every time something happened since some journalists had written against the war it was assumed I was guilty. A lot of people had written against the Army Commander and the war, including your paper. When something happened the President used to summon these journalists and ask them not to write anything against the forces and that he was not answerable if they did something in return. He kept giving the impression that the military and the forces were against the media. He did this purposely.
Q: But your name has figured in the attacks on Keith Noyahr and Namal Perera?
A: That was because they had written some articles against me in their papers. It doesn’t mean that every time there is an article against me I would act in such a manner. During the election campaign there were so many stories about me, I could have acted since I had about 90 army personnel working for me. If that is so I could have gone behind the people who were slinging mud at me. If I had such a mentality, I would have ended up in jail in handcuffs. I would not be like the people who could not even attend their mother’s funeral and finally turn up in handcuffs for an alleged murder. The only eye-witness to that murder is still missing. We were professional soldiers. Even in the war, I fought it properly, I looked after the people. The amount of votes I got from the people in those areas proves it.
Q: It has been alleged that the votes you got in the north and east were from LTTE sympathisers?
A: How can that be said? There again they are trying to create a rift between the north and the south. Prabhakaran, the terrorist leader tried to take the north and east, but now another terrorist leader is trying to take the south. They are trying to divide the country. Whether you try to take the north away or the south, it amounts to the same. That is why I asked the President to come for a debate, but he didn’t. He doesn’t want to come openly and argue it out, but instead wants to undercut me and arrest my people. That is his way of doing things. I have shown how I do things.
Q: You are inaccessible to the people. If you are planning to continue in politics, how do you plan to go among the people?
A: That is because they are trying to murder the people around me. Already there are about 40 people in the cell. Every one who worked for me has been arrested. My office cannot be opened because they damaged it and looted it. We are trying to settle down now. The people must ensure that this Idi Amin administration is sent home. If he won with such a majority as they claim, why is he so scared of me? He must look after us and encourage me to contest the next time as well. He should allow me to contest the general election and the next presidential election. Why is he so worried? If you are a boxer when you down your opponent in the first round, you are happy to see him up and go at you again and again. You don’t try to kill him outside the ring.
I promise the people that I will not let them down. Although Mahinda Rajapaksa rigged this election and robbed the presidency, I am the ‘People’s President.’ Mahinda Rajapaksa is the ‘Rogue President’ without any integrity and dignity. You can see it from his face and those of his family members.
M: Master R: Rogue, With chinese computers and Iranian software anything loses.
Yes. Every party representative gets a copy of the result at the counting center. If it don’t match the published results we have a clear case here.
the problem is it does match. So this clown Fonseka has no case.
This man had been working in a very undemocratic organization for 40 years, so he doesn’t understand anything democratic. There are enough sentences in this interview, which could be brought in as character bashing and take to court as slander.
He appears to a fool to maintain that he had got votes from the LTTE map area. The best thing for him to do is to retire, and we Sri Lankans might forget the treachery, OK Pal?
මෙයා:-
________________________________
█ ස්ත්රී දූෂකයෙක්! = 1975 දී දියතලාව කඳවුරේ ධනවතී නම් සේවිකාව
█ හොරෙක්! = Hicorp
█ බොරු කාරයෙක්! = මුලින් ජනපති ධූරය, අහෝසි කරමි, දැන් නොකරමි
█ ජාති ද්රෝහියෙක්! = උතුරු/නැගෙණහිර එකතු කරමි / ස්වයං පාලනය දෙමි
█ පාවා දෙන්නෙක් = සුදු කොඩි ගෙනා LTTE කාරයින්ට වෙඩි තිබ්බා
█ දූෂිතයෙක් = මුසම්මිල්ට ලක්ෂ 300 අල්ලස් දීම
█ මිනීමරුවෙක් = ලසන්ත
This lunatic was a prey to JVP serpants, he is just a dwarf in front of the Gulliver MR
So Janaka,wimal
how about the burned ballot papers ?
the issue is they claim that the vote distribution staffs and counting staffs are appointed by MR and TEAM … even the UNP suspect Election Commissioner … who has a very bad attitude
No silly, at every counting centre there are agents of the candidates. i.e. there is a SF appointed agent looking and watching the counting. they get a copy of the results at each counting station.
the counting staff has not been appointed by MR. name a single person appointed to the election commission during MR was president?
in fact the election commission is 72 members under staffed because MR refuse to appoint people presisely because of this kind of allegation.
Hey janaka silly boy,
Open your eyes when u read some thing. Open your ears when u hear something. Go through the following points and enlighten us, you think u r smart.
1 . Why there are burned ballot papers out side ?
2. Why some of the counting officers where kicked out?
3. Why EC still not handing over the original result copies ?
4 Why on earth day after the election was declared a public holiday ?
SF, YOU WILL ALWAYS BE OUR facebook PRESIDENT. SMS PRESIDENT. AND YOUR OWN PRESIDENT
He should be in Angoda that is where he belongs
I thought MR is the SMS president ! Also MR should be the LUNCH president too !
poor SF, he clearly didn’t see a MR raly. biggest crowd for SF was about 15,000. his rallys were held in small grounds and locations. if you watch the videos, you can see by the scale of the people, flags, cars in the background the amount of people present.
MR rally’s attracted 100,000 plus at some points. 30,000 average. and the smallest one in Jaffna was about 10,000 (the average for SF).
SF you can be our Facebook president. You bet MR by 10,000 fans on facebook (even with wiered named sri lankans with chinese, african, european names and profile pictures)
Angoda pissa
But don’t forget, challenging unrealistic goals too falls into features of paranoia.
Can you explain why couldn’t you vote? Doesn’t this tell somthing wrong with you as a General? Did you get the polling card before the election? If you didn’t get the card, you should have checked with the EC but don’t tell us on the day of electon that you can’t vote. How about in the general election?
He was in the in the heat of battle in the Vanni against a ruthless terrorist organization when electoral lists were being compiled in Amblangoda. Nobody, and cartainly not the General himself envisaged contesting a presidential election will about 3 months ago.
You were probably watching TV or pushing pencils at a desk.
I should have been done by SF’s wife or someone else. Don’t have to be SF himself. There were soldiers who were fighting with those ruthless terrorists at the front, and if they have there votes registered why SF couldn’t register his vote.
If it wasn’t for MR’s decisions those ruthless terrorists are still fling high.
The bitter truth is that SF and his family had all plans to move into USA for greener pastures. He thoght that it is useless in getting registered for voting in Sri Lanka .
He simply didn’t fill in the application form to register himself as a voter!
He was with one leg in America, but he is afraid to go there now. Why?
He didn’t fulfill the promise he gave the Americans, so he is now “spent coin” for Americans.
If he had won, the Americans would have a long sea shore in the North and East. Now, Americans are angry, for he didn’t DELIVER!!!
He is the worst presidential candidate we have ever had and ever will have
He was in China getting drunk with these persecutors of Buddhist in their own country, when the war ended. He is about as brave as Prabakaran really was. SF is a fake. If he were the people’s president how come he has a Green Card with intent to become a US citizen. MR at least loves his country and is doing things to turn it around. Being at war has nothing to do with not registering. He had enough time to register with the US government to become a citizen, there is no excuse for a ‘politician’ not to have the brains to register for his own election. Get real boys.
u know gamaya,
I am loving SF EVEN more after this incident.
This is the BEST indication that SF entered politics FOR our sake, For our country !
Catelogue events of the election never seen in Lanka. The HORA-paksa never wanted to loose the election – by hook or by crook.
He was supported by PAGA-paksa, having benefitted billions probably bought people to put the plan to action.
JARA-paksa made sure that the power of the army was standby in case peoples will wins.
The ONLY bundle of voting papers found has had 64 for Gen. Fonseka instead of 50. ( Hence would have been counted as 50 ). Who to say that across the country this did not happen !!!! This also shows elaborate plan to destroy the evidence!
Why destroy ballot papers when by law thay have to be preserved for a minimum period !!! Is any one responsible…. oops no…. In Sri lanka no one gets punished but probably the culprits will be getting promotions for the ‘good work’
Why the commissioners family was ‘arrested’ during the counting….. .. Has this ever happened??? … .. Any fool willunderstand that this is to make sure he will not be allowed to give a decision against the HORApaksa’s
Its said that the PAGApaksa and a family member was closely involved in the computer manipulation after 3 am. Can any one expect any thing other than to confirm the victory of the HORApaksa???
In desparation, the commissioners speech says it all….. ‘I could not confirm even one ballot box is safe’ ( or some thing similar). But now he HAS to say the election result was correct….. ( though he knows it wans’t)
In Lanka most of the elections there are cries from the party which loosers of some rigging peripherally which may not have altered the result…… but never ever to such extent!!
Only hope is that what goes around with come around to punish the Paksa clan!!!
Grow up buddy!
you will need to grow up very soon in the next 6 years Kalang, for not knowing to stand up for whats correct.
before you stand up for what is correct Shane you need to recognise what is correct. You are clearly blinded by anger and delusion
If we are to save UNP we must separate from SF. SF & JVP is the main threat to UNP right now.
Candidates should be disqualified if the rules are broken. Mahinda should have been disqualified a million times over.
Gota needs to see a psychiatrist for anger management issues… his intimidating goon squads and death squads are even embarrassing Mahinda and making Basil concerned about how much more money can be stolen without attracting attention. From the new $300 million totally unnecessary arms purchase in Russia to the microcar assembly to even WiMax telecom frequency rights, the Horapakses have their snouts in the trough.
SF should be disqualified because he has a US green card. he doesn’t have a vote.
someone should wash SF’s mouth with sope and teach him how to speak properly and some sex therapy wouldn’t go astray, and alcohol rehab would also be good
If Gota has to see a psychiatrist for anger management , SfFwill have to be detained in a psychiatry hospital under care of a team of psychatrists for the rest of his life !
well said he should be locked up in angoda for ever,he is the real idiamin what a fool he is the idi amin film on tv was a comparison to him and not to MR he got it all wrong if not it would’nt be shown on state TV.
SF’spsychiatric disorder is being diagnosed. It is SPD-Sadistic Personality Disorder – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadistic_personality_disorder
He has Prabhakaran type personality
I obtained my first degree in 2005. second degree in 2009. sooo many interviews. cut my name from the list. no job for educated people. soo many stupid ediots in ministries now a days. General, please take charge and go ahead!!!!!
You think the world is at your feet just because you got a degree in 2009! You expect too much. You must be an SF family member.
Though you have taken two degrees you seem tobe stupid. You should have checked whether you have job opportunities before doing them. In SL there are only few professional degrees. Others are for learning experience, else things you learnt for the degree will not be useful for the job you get. This is not your fault. And nobody is interested in correcting it. Better you select politics & go ahead.
Idiots, Now election is over, get the hand off from the election and write something useful for the development of the country. You basted ruined our country with this election and seems continuing. For the commentators, do not get in to the hands of these poor media monkeys.
extremly good idea to go ahead with the general election
the lies SF is telling – my God!! nothing to do with keith noyahr’s abduction?? why dont people get in touch with keith himself to know abt SF!!
Here he accepts that he had 90 army personal. What a man with double toungue?.. Sri Lanka is lucky enough not to have this kind of man as a persident.
coming from a political background.. ur support staff or ur organizers will never tell you or know the ground situation.. they will continuously tell u things like…. ur going to win!!! …thats the word of the town!!!! every one we asked said they will caste the vote for u!!!! but these are further from the ground reality… anyway in a town of 100,00 ppl, just because 25,000 turned up for a meeting doesn’t in any logic say that you will win that town… its not SF’s fault..its the henchman around him…
further, in the interview at one stage SF says ppl openly stated they will vote for him and later when the journalist says no they heard otherwise…. the good general says how can ppl speak up they will be murdered … then who was speaking up earlier asper SF himself ????
What a clown is this Fonseka !!! He still thinks he is in the Army and can talk whatever he wants and get away with it. Its supprising that he is not arrested. hw fought the War brilliantly but fought the Elections very badly and thus is the result !!!!………………. It proves that just B’cos you are a war hero that does not mean you can run the country !!!!……….Army and Country are 2 different entities …..Mr Fonseka !!!!!!
Dear General, MR family is famous for cheating the people and robbing. Remember what happened to Tsunami funds in Hambantota. Billions of dollars were robbed by them during their first term. Whole election was robbed by them. Whole society is becoming corrupted and unlawful. We need a person like you to get the the society into the correct path.
Hey Sunday Leader Newsteam: Why did you change the photograph attached to this news item. Did Mangi complain that SF look too much like a man just escaped from a lunatic asylum ?
With all the evidence available, the Presdient Election on the 26th January was rigged by the Government. The Election Commissioner was kept as a prisoner. He was under pressure to declare the results. Mahinda Rajapakse wants to govern the country for himself and his family.
Be sensible! See below interview;
“The Elections Commissioner certainly didn’t leave the premises”
The University of Colombo School of Computing (UCSC) handled the computer system and software when processing the election results at the recently concluded Presidential Election. Dr. Ruvan Weerasinghe is the Director of the UCSC. He is also one of the most established and well known personalities in the field of IT in Sri Lanka
Following the announcement of the Presidential election results, the opposition started making several allegations claiming that the computer system was hacked and manipulated to produce a result favouring President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The Nation spoke with Dr. Weerasinghe to understand that validity of these opposition allegations.
Following are excerpts from the interview:
By Tharindu Prematillake
Q: For how long has the UCSC been involved with local elections?
A: We’ve been involved in all the Presidential and Parliamentary elections since 1982. We only get involved in the Presidential and General Elections. I think it’s also a kind of insurance to the Elections Commissioner, because, if there is a mistake, we also have to take responsibility. Whereas, if they do it and make a mistake, no one else will know about it.
Q: What role did you and the UCSC play in the Presidential election?
A: There is much confusion on what we did. What really happened is that, there were around 5,000 or so polling stations. The boxes are then brought to the counting centres, and there were around 880 of those. At that point, party representatives sign off the counting centre result and fax it. Of course, they also give copies to the first, second and third one on the notice board, and one they fax to us, us meaning, actually, the Elections Commissioner. We were also in his building. Our operations were also on the floor that he was on. The 880 results are from 160 polling divisions. For example, in Dehiwala, I think there are five counting centres which adds up the Dehiwala result. So, overall, the 880 add up to give 160 individual results. That 880 is what is entered into the computer at the Elections Commissioner’s office.
From that point, we don’t release any of those results, until the Commissioner gets the total number. For example, if there are five that correspond to Colombo, the Colombo results declaration centre will fax the final tally to the Commissioner. It doesn’t come to us. So he compares that with the results that we putout. Then only he signs the results copy. So, basically, fairly early on we have all the values in the computer. But because it has to be verified, announcing the result takes a little bit of time.
After he signs the printout that we give, it is released to the media.
It was a big operation, and everyone involved were university staff members. We understand the seriousness of the operation, so we don’t involve students, even though the computation is very basic. We did data entry, storing, computation and dissemination. We can’t afford any virus or hacker or any sort of thing like that to upset the system. So, just to look at the screen and determine if there is any unusual activity going on, we have a contingent there. But before that, for about a month, we are testing the software to make the software as perfect as possible for that day. That involves several people for over a month. On election day, we have an operation to mainly monitor the process. In fact, in most places, the Elections Commissioner has a parallel agent. For instance, we have a person who checks whether the fax is legible, and if the numbers and words on the fax match. The Elections Commissioner also has a person to check these things. Like that, in most places, there are duplicate checks, just to ensure that everything is absolutely accurate.
We started this in 1982. We don’t do postal voting. We actually vote. That morning, we cast our vote and come there. When we report to the Commissioner’s office, we do so as people from the UCSC. From that point on, it is clear to everybody that we have to do the job accurately and impartially. If anything untoward happens in that process, it is a bad reflection on us as an organisation. So, by now, people are fairly clear on that.
Basically, one team cannot do it alone throughout the whole night. So, altogether, we have a team of 40 who will man it at different times. This time it finished off around 10 am, when some staff left, while the others had to wait till the declaration. Until the final declaration, there is the theoretical possibility that we’ll have to go back and check the results, because, even if the last one doesn’t tally, we will have to recheck it.
Q: Were there instances where the computer generated count didn’t tally with the manual count?
A: In every election, there are such situations. The individual candidate scores and the totals have to tally. So, we enter the total also.
There were a few small discrepancies in the rejected votes. That can be because of one of two things.
One is that, the person who added it up manually erred. The other is that, the person who typed it into the computer erred. But nothing is released until they tally perfectly. So, you have to go back and check the whole process, to see where it went wrong.
Potentially, these checks can take a very long time, but at this election, there were not many such instances, and they didn’t take up that much time either.
I think that’s one of the reasons why people are so suspicious. Because, until election day, there were so many allegations of violence, but on election day it was peaceful. The results came out and everything was so smooth. So, it is understandable that the people feel that something may have happened.
Q: You said, you keep watch to monitor anything unusual in the system. Did you notice any such unusual activity in the system this time?
A: We connect to all the media organisations on a very private network. Practically, if I’m agency X and my computer is connected to the office network through the Internet, that would cause some threat, because, if there is a cable, personnel and viruses can get through. So, the networking people were looking for traffic on the wire. Especially, if there are packets coming the other way. Basically, all the packets should be going out to the media organisations, and there should not be anything coming back. To this date, never has there been that kind of network attack.
Q: There are allegations that your system and software were manipulated, to change the results. Is that possible?
A: I’m not saying that anything is impossible. Actually, I was misquoted by the BBC as having said that computer manipulation is impossible. I had to fight with them to get the story right.
In general, computer manipulation is always possible, but in this instance, it was extremely difficult to have done it. On one hand, our reputation is at stake. Secondly, it is the process of matching the manual and the computer generated copies. If we do some manipulation and the result comes out, it will never match with what the district people have sent. So, for them to be matched and then tampered with, we have to have some link with those people in the district, because all those agents are there from all the parties.
Before the Commissioner could release the results, all the parties could calculate the results themselves. For example, if a party wanted to know the result of the Maharagama seat, then it is a very easy thing to find it out. They’ll know that these are the four counting centres, and these are the four results, because all the parties have agents at the counting centres. They can just add them up and, when they see it on TV, if the result is different, they can challenge directly. That’s all you have to do. And you have to assume that every party has someone who is worried about a particular seat. Not just one, but loads of them. So, anyone can challenge, based on those numbers made public. I mean the counting centre scores are public.
Q: Are you going to be using the same system for the general election?
A: Well, it will be slightly different, because here, for every district there are 22 candidates. In the general election it’s not like that. Some parties will contest in some places. So, accordingly, the system has to change. Hence the general election will be more complicated than this. This election was actually a simple operation.
But of course, we have software from the previous elections. So, we don’t have to build from scratch.
Q: From what you saw happening that night, do you think there was any manipulation of the results?
A: What I tell, especially when people from the Opposition ask me, is that, if they did their task, which was to ensure that the counting centre scores are correct, then they shouldn’t have to worry, because we have done our job as well. We have totalled accurately. Whether anything happened before that, of course, we don’t know. The Elections’ Commissioner has tried to answer that question.
Since we were on the same floor, I could see that there was no one holding a gun to the Commissioner, and that, he certainly didn’t leave the premises. Those rumours are not true. At one point, when people didn’t believe us, we had to actually go and look to see if he was still there. It came to that. But that part is very clear, nobody came and forced him to do anything.
But, about what happened outside, he has reported that some provincial councillors had chased his staff and that kind of thing. We really don’t have access to things that happened outside. That is why they have party agents.
Q: So, can you guarantee that nothing out of place happened, after the results were faxed to you from the counting centres?
A: I can guarantee that what was released was the exact total that would have come up, if anybody had added them.
Q: Leader of the JVP, Somawansa Amarasinghe has made the following allegation. “The President told us one day that, at the 2004 general election, he had not received the most number of preferential votes from Hambantota. He told us that he did a ‘computer gil mart’ and manipulated the results to indicate that he had obtained the most preferential votes”. From your knowledge on working with elections for so long, do you think such a ‘computer gil mart’ was possible?
A: To have done something like that through our computer system does not sound practical. If only his party agents were there and the totals that we got were already corrupted, then the results could have been manipulated. But the Elections Commissioner’s staff is also not for one side. Even in the Elections Commissioner’s office, their personal vote has been for different people. So it is hard to believe that there is a situation where you can doctor everyone, so that, all those who are in that centre cheat together, and also ensure that party agents from all other parties are not there. So, yes, as with anything else, under extreme conditions, it is possible. But as far as I know, that would be very, very hard to do.
Q: The Vice Chancellors had pledged their support to the President a few days before the election. You, along with other Faculty heads, published a letter opposing the move made by the Vice Chancellors. Can you elaborate on that matter?
A: This is not about any one Vice Chancellor. In fact, it’s not even just about Vice Chancellors. Because, I’m in the university, we could really express our opinion about that. It applies to people across the field.
The only way I feel that a public official could do something like that is, if they make it explicit, that ‘I am now acting as myself’. But, even if they say that, it is difficult to dissociate them from their work. So, it’s better to write a statement, which is what we did, with just the names. We said that, as individuals, the whole university cannot agree with the sentiment expressed by the Vice Chancellors.
For me, this is one of the reasons why this whole fraud idea has come up. Because, if people can’t believe the Vice Chancellors, why should they believe the Elections Commissioner? He is also just a public official. And why should he believe me, because the UCSC is a government agency. So, I think, you are starting a dangerous trend, if public officials start doing what the Vice Chancellors did, because then, we can’t maintain our independence. In our case, neutrality is crucial, because, not only for the election, but various other IT projects and stuff, we are accepted as being apolitical.
The whole brand we had built over so many years was questioned this time, and understandably.
While there is no truth to the made up stories like holding the gun, and keeping the Commissioner at Temple Trees, the whole doubt about whether this is the correct result, I think, is a valid doubt, given the fact that what was understood before was that this was going to be much closer. So, for that, we should be able to put people and find out what happened. But the whole environment created around it, made it much more difficult for us to say it. I think, even the Commissioner made it more difficult for him to sound honest.
Dear non resident , pls make a summary of your writing! It’s too long to read. Writng to a blog is not like writing a newspaper article.
You just give the link, no need to fill the whole blog.
Sarath Fonseka is an ugly man with an ugly heart.
No class at all.
Look at al the nasty things he says about other people.
At least Mahinda doest make such vituperative comments.
Sadistic personality disorder is:
A) A pervasive pattern of cruel, demeaning, and aggressive behavior, beginning by early adulthood, as indicated by the repeated occurrence of at least four of the following:
1. has used physical cruelty or violence for the purpose of establishing dominance in a relationship (not merely to achieve some noninterpersonal goal, such as striking someone in order to rob him/her).
2. Humiliates or demeans people in the presence of others.
3. has treated or disciplined someone under his/her control unusually harshly.
4. is amused by, or takes pleasure in, the psychological or physical suffering of others (including animals).
5. has lied for the purpose of harming or inflicting pain on others (not merely to achieve some other goal).
6. gets other people to do what he/she wants by frightening them (through intimidation or even terror).
7. restricts the autonomy of people with whom he or she has a close relationship, e.g., will not let spouse leave the house unaccompanied or permit teenage daughter to attend social functions.
8. is fascinated by violence, weapons, injury, or torture.
General,
With due respect, my huble request to you is please stop bickering about the outcome of the presidential election, accept defeat in the spirit of democracy and move on with life. You cannot call yourself the people’s president as 1.8 million people voted in excess of what you polled in the elections. The “people” with common sense understand it is not possible to rig and obtain such vast majority. Yes, we saw the burn ballot papers found in the wayside. Yes, they were votes cast in your favour. Yes, this was irregular and could be considered rigging. But the fact remains that this type this would not have changed the final outcome of the results. Based, on the ballot papers found by the wayside let us reasonably analyze; Your supporters found 64 ballot papers! If we assume, there were 100 such incidents in each district, we would have ended up with a total of 6,400 ballots found in the wayside. If we assume this was consistant in all 22 district s in the island, we would end up with a grand total of 140,800. If we add this 140,800 to your total you would have received 4,313,985 votes compared to MR’s total of 5,875,134 votes, which would have resulted in a majority of 1.56 million votes. So it is high time we thought practically and moved on in the interest of the country. Your current bickering and going around town calling yourself the people’s president will neither bring you into office or change the minds of your “People”. The end result would be you will loose the support of persons within your camp who have a little bit of common sense (like poor me!) and erode your current significant vote base. My humble advise is, like a gentleman accept defeat and move on. If you want to opt to be a typical Sri Lankan politician, and keep on bickering; God bless you Sir, as that is the road that leads to political oblivion or in lighter terms referred to as the “Gutters”
We are told that all retired army officers are bound by the army rules and regulations for three years since retirement. During his campaign SF had leveled many a wild allegation against many a personnel in Sri Lankan security forces. SF said he would court marshal all army officers that got involved in politics, ’when’ he wins the Presidency on 26th.
Now that SF lost the Presidency, he should be questioned about his meetings with foreign embassies while he was CDS. SF should be questioned about all those inappropriate things that came out from his foul mouth. SF should be questioned about those white flags etc that he talked about during his campaign. And he should be court marshalled if found guilty for divulging state secrets.
If already arrested deserters, murderers, other suspects are involved in a conspiracy against the government or for murdering people, I cannot understand why they should be spared. In fact, every Tom, Dick and Harry that that has come to light as conspirators should be questioned and haul them before a court of law.
Leela ! your dreams will come true in dooms day! ungrateful people are people like you. What about service and police personnel that MR. forced to contest elections from his party. When SF contested there was a big issue. If SF contested from MR party the, SF Hoda Miniha.
Your excelency the president
Dont have to worry remmember Mr President Ranasinghe Premadasa was not only a king He was the Emperor just before he died you love the country and wants to serve and do some thing for the coomon man Mr King will get the same fath when people riding high results will be severe
SF must getb real, the votes he received were the hard core UNP votes, people did not vote for him as a person, he lost the respect he had as a leader when he decided to go into politics.
“I am the people’s down fall”.
Let’s face it. He lost it the minute he had the support from the TNA. Not a single person (Singhalese) will trust the Tamils. They supported SF just to punish MR. How stupid they are to think the Singhalese are idiots?
Only a hand full of Sinhalese are idiots. They think that they are “Colombo people” who are hard core UNPers, therefore they hate MR who is a “Godaya”. That’s the “intelligence” they have. How sad!!! How embarrassing!! The “Godayas” are more educated than them!! Thank goodness the “Godayas” out number the Madayas. Otherwise the poor country is at stake!
SH,
I am from Matara and I hate corruption, bribery. That naturally put my self in the Generals side. So am I godaya ? or maadya ? or Both?
One more question.
Are you jack ass or dumb ass ? Or both ?
You seems to have swallowed some ropes given by the SF’s alliance. How can he eliminate? If you read & understand the things people with ’sadistic personality disorder’ can do, you will never dream like this. Please wake up.
How can he eliminate ? Give him a chance, and he ll show how to do it ! SF gave the right medicine for the ruthless LTTE, so eliminating corruption cant be hard at all.
If any one who is suffering from personal disorder it is none other tha Dr Mahinda. Bank notes with his face, Songs for him, main actor on SLRC, sons already made heir to throne. You talk metal disorder now buddy !
What Dr Mahinda suffer now is a collection of menal disorders ! Medicine should be immediately delivered to him and people like RASIA who eats his LANU!!
General, there is only one thing for you to do now and that is “JOIN THE UPFA GOVT”. They will welcome you back with open hands; you can become the Defence Minister and be Gotabaya’s boss !!!! C’mon General, do it.
anyway family regime not required for Srilanka. General We are with you, do not give in to the GOONS.
SF you are obviously a psychopath in the same league as Stalin, Hitler, Idi Amin, Sadam Hussein, and last but not least, VP. You have become a Sinhala VP with blood lust willing to take on VP mantle to divide SL and give Tamil nationalists their eelam. You are prepared to do this just to get elected by underhand dealings to satisfy your big fat ego and greed for power. Where Lord Buddha and King Asoka gave up power to follow the path of righteousness, joy and peace, you have done the opposite by your greed for power. You have now destroyed your good name and your family’s future. Fortunately democracy in SL is saved because people saw through to who you really are bent on killing democracy and dragging SL to another several decades of destruction as VP did. A great disaster has been avoided to the credit of our intalligent electrorate.
Now go home like a good boy and behave yourself. No more temper tantrums like a spoilt brat demanding that you have won a game despite your cheating, till your mother gives in. Motherlanka will never give in. Before long you will be arrested to pay for all your crimes along with your co-conspirators. There is no place for traitors like you in SL. It is high time you were arrested and the due process of the law put into effect. In my book you are guilty as hell and you should swing for it along with you JVP nincompoops and the TNA co-conspirators.
I hear you Nick Dias. Now, if only the UNP’rs and SF himself could get the cotton out of their ears and mud out of their eyes they might see what has come down in this brainless, juvenile exercise of an attempt at running for office.
YOU ARE PRESIDENT IN MENTAL HOSPITAL.YOU CAN JOIN THERE .THERE ARE LOTS OF PRESIDENTS,KINGS, ARE THERE.YOU CAN BE EVER PRSIDENT AT ANGODA
Your name sounds familiar!! Are you referring to the incumbent President, also known as Hitler at the hospital?
SF , YOU ARE AN ANGRY EGO MENIAC…..form your alliances with JVP and other losers….UNP is out !
…SF , YOU ARE AN ANGRY EGO MENIAC…..form your alliances with JVP and other losers….UNP is out !
…….SF , YOU ARE AN ANGRY EGO MENIAC…..form your alliances with JVP and other losers….UNP is out !
!….SF , YOU ARE AN ANGRY EGO MENIAC…..form your alliances with JVP and other losers….UNP is out !
*……SF , YOU ARE AN ANGRY EGO MENIAC…..form your alliances with JVP and other losers….UNP is out !
THIS BLODY TRAITOR SHOULD HAVE BEEN ARRESTED EARLY.THIS TYPE OF ANIMAL CANT KEEP IN HUMAN WORLD.OR OTHER THIS MAD TRATOR SHOULD SENT TO MENTAL HOSPITAL WITH JVP IDOT LEADDERS
Namal,
How about traitors who posed pictures with LTTE thugs ?
How about traitors who robbed/robbing LTTE money which supposed to be used for our development ?
Should we kick them to the Mental Hospital too along with your self ?
Reasons why—
Sadistic personality disorder is:
A) A pervasive pattern of cruel, demeaning, and aggressive behavior, beginning by early adulthood, as indicated by the repeated occurrence of at least four of the following:
1. has used physical cruelty or violence for the purpose of establishing dominance in a relationship (not merely to achieve some noninterpersonal goal, such as striking someone in order to rob him/her).
2. Humiliates or demeans people in the presence of others.
3. has treated or disciplined someone under his/her control unusually harshly.
4. is amused by, or takes pleasure in, the psychological or physical suffering of others (including animals).
5. has lied for the purpose of harming or inflicting pain on others (not merely to achieve some other goal).
6. gets other people to do what he/she wants by frightening them (through intimidation or even terror).
7. restricts the autonomy of people with whom he or she has a close relationship, e.g., will not let spouse leave the house unaccompanied or permit teenage daughter to attend social functions.
8. is fascinated by violence, weapons, injury, or torture.
I think he atleast needs some form of counselling
Wow ! Dr Mahinda matches every single thing u have given here ! Amazing !!
Until now I only thought Dr mahinda suffering from ‘ I am the King’ mental disorder !! Thanks to u, now I know he is suffering from others too !
It looks like the life story of SF!
Can somone remove SF’s poster ” peoples president ” he is with Miltory Police now
SF SHOULD HAVE BEEN ARESTED EARLY.HE IS IDIOT STUPID TRAITOR TO SRI LANKA.HE REVENG FROM SRI LANKAN BECEAUSE PEOPLE DID NOT VOTE FOR HIM.HE IS ANIMAL WHO WAS TREATED AS WANTED OF PEOPLE.
SF REST IN PEACE NOW
Namal ? Are you MR’s son ? If so I salute you.
Actually SF is an innocent man suffering from a rare illness which lead all the scenario after he was appointed as the chief of staff. SF doesn’t know that. His family members may know that. RASAIA knows that. Many are getting to know.
This is it for you. Please give your sympathy to him.
Sadistic personality disorder is:
A) A pervasive pattern of cruel, demeaning, and aggressive behavior, beginning by early adulthood, as indicated by the repeated occurrence of at least four of the following:
1. has used physical cruelty or violence for the purpose of establishing dominance in a relationship (not merely to achieve some noninterpersonal goal, such as striking someone in order to rob him/her).
2. Humiliates or demeans people in the presence of others.
3. has treated or disciplined someone under his/her control unusually harshly.
4. is amused by, or takes pleasure in, the psychological or physical suffering of others (including animals).
5. has lied for the purpose of harming or inflicting pain on others (not merely to achieve some other goal).
6. gets other people to do what he/she wants by frightening them (through intimidation or even terror).
7. restricts the autonomy of people with whom he or she has a close relationship, e.g., will not let spouse leave the house unaccompanied or permit teenage daughter to attend social functions.
8. is fascinated by violence, weapons, injury, or torture.
I think he atleast needs some form of counselling
Well Dr Mahinda also matches everything here ! So we should be pitty on him more than anyone ! With his face even on bank notes, Dr Mahinda is suffering from newly founded ‘ I am the King’ mental disorder !
Let us have pitty on kings and his slaves, who after bootlicking king now preparing to bootlick kings son !
I am sure the king wont be able to enslave majority Sinhalese people.
We had enough experience with a person with the same mental illness called Prabhakaran. May be you like to have a ruler like Prabhakaran to be your President. We respect your wish. Unfortunately majority of people don’t like that personality.
Hi, Ayesh.
Don’t be chidish. There is no politics here. We have enough suffered from Prabhakaran’s Sadistic personality disorder(SPD). We can’t create another era with such a bloody violence.
World has not witnessed such a person is ruling a country. They wanted it. But our brave people prevented it.
So buddy,
according to u, both Sun goat prabha & Dr Mahinda suffer from the same mental disease ! Wow !! Now I know why I feel sick when I see 1000rs notes !!!
Talking abt Prabha more thing, I thought your next President Namal loves him more than anyone! Otherwise he wont be in ALL smiles with LTTE thugs. Huh !!
Hi Neil,
IF anyone who suffering from THAT disease I think its Dr Mahinda him self. Add to that he has ‘I am King’ disorder which I think its disastrous !
BTW, I read Gotas interview, and I believe(sadly) he too suffer from SPD. Any medicine u reckon ?
It is not clear what SF is saying. It looks like he is insane. He was trained to kill. He was a dictator in the armed forces. He has no knowledge of the ordinary people(majority of Sri Lankans) and politics or economics. SF just mimicked what Obama said when he started his campaign. America needed “the change”. Sri Lanka did not want “that change” after defeating terrorist and MR has served the country only for 4 years.
SF’s supporters are trying to make him a character like President Obama and MR as Robert Mugabe.
At best it should be other way around.
Many American soldiers who did the killings in Vietnam and Iraq (they had to do so as soldiers) in the war front ended up as psychotics when they return home. It is surprising to see a general who was not in the battle field displaying such behaviour.
There may be people who wish that he wins the election. Any one who did believed that he would win an election also has to be insane.
SF or the people around him don’t know or pretend the unawareness of this man’s psychic state. Many people understood his paranoid behaviour beforehand & voted against him. This seems the truth. If you are neutral and listen to his speeches & compare them with RASAIA’s comments, anybody can understand what a personality disorder he is suffering from. I suppose, he needs treatment before anythingelse.
100% correct
Well Mahina actually out done RM ! Hiring thugs to throw stones at peaceful protesters, trying to stop them from going to courts !
Appointing accountants to CB, appointing O/L qualifiers for government cooperation, having a minister for ‘Curing Diseases’ , getting chinese labor when we have plenty here, Allocating him self 2.4 billion while allocating while high education 1.9 billion. u want me to carry on buddy ? WE talk mental disorder now !!!
being the main actor on SLRC, On bank notes, family ruling everything, staying only in 6 star hoes like Ritz carlton NY with our tax money, tells me Dr mahinda is suffering me severe personal disorder, which i call ‘I am the King’ mental disorder ! And his paid servant suffering from ‘ I am your slave’ disorder. Both should be kindly checked and medicated accordingly !
I am very much thankful for people like GREEN, for showing Dr Mahindas other mental disorders. When have time I am going to list them all here, hope leader will pardon me for wasting server space COZ list gonna be looooong !!
List it with complete diagnosis (like sadistic personality disorder which is described at many web sites) Then we can select the less harmful one.
Remember Ayesh,
First we have to live in peace. If the country starts to shed blood again, we won’t have time to discuss these topics again. These irregularities were there in the past too. But we had a big topic “the war” to be discussed those days. Remember not all the mental disorders are harmful to an extent of ’sadistic personality disorder’. Anyway let’s see your knowledge of psychiatry.
Well Meena Our country is in blood again thanks to MR’s goon ! Today blood shed near Law College. People who were peacefully protested were attacked by thugs. So stop ur bana and see the reality !
What I have is common sense. Not just me anyone with common sense knows, all the disorders listed by your pals fits PERFECTLY with Dr Mahinda, along with the ‘I am king’ mental disorder ! Dont need special psychiatric knowledge for that.