and Politically savvy and appealing to the Sinhala majority in the country, this election sticker by a UPFA contestant named Hussain invokes the blessings of the Buddha if you vote for him (Hussain): clearly politics is what binds all religions together. Because family is what counts, Vijayadeva Hamuduruwo’s Malli, Dinuka is counting on your vote at the local government elections.

UPFA’s LG Victory
The United People’s Freedom Alliance won the 2011 Local Government election with a majority victory of 205 out of the total 234 LG bodies.
Illankai Tamil Arasu Katchchi (ITAK) came in second winning 12 while the United National Party (UNP) only managed to secure 9 LG bodies.
The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) has won 4, National Congress 2, the Up-Country People’s Front (UPF) 1, while an Independent Group has secured 1 LG body.

Local elections monitors claim that the voter turn out at the islandwide local authority elections was higher than initially expected.
Executive Director, People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL), Rohana Hettiarachchi, said that on average, a voter turn out of around 55% – 65% was expected for local authority elections. He also said that although an exact total voter turnout figure had not been officially determined, PAFFREL placed the estimate at around 64% this time.
Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) meanwhile placed the estimate at around 58%. “Some of the figures coming in are unbelievable,” said CaFFE Executive Director Keerthi Tennekoon. “I would say the voter turnout is far better than expected,” he added. However, he also said that making an exact judgment was not easy. “The numbers are very tricky. In Colombo District the voter turnout was lower than expected, but in other places, like Kurunegala, it was better than expected. It depends on each local authority,” Tennekoon said.
He said that CaFFE had been observing the pre-election situation in the country, and had at first concluded that there was little enthusiasm among the public. The numbers of people who did eventually turn up had therefore been unexpected, he said.

UPFA candidate Dinesh Rajapaksa charged that Lands and Land Development Minister Janaka Bandara Tennakoon and his son Pramitha engaged in acts of intimidation and manipulated the Dambulla Municipal Council election results.
Rajapaksa told The Sunday Leader that Minister Tennakoon manipulated the UPFA preferential votes so that he got one of his staunch supporters, a well-known ‘hooligan’ in the area, to top the list.
“This was a pre-planned arrangement. Although the candidates are allowed to go to the counting centers, Minister Tennakoon said that he will be sending five independent people to the counting center to avoid any issues. This was said well before the election but though we knew Tennakoon is a crook we did not know that he will manipulate his own party’s preferential votes,” an angry Rajapaksa charged.
Rajapaksa added that up until 5 a.m. on Friday (18) he had topped the Dambulla Municipal Council UPFA preferential vote list. Another candidate Kusumsiri was second while the candidate in question Jaliya Opatha was in sixth place. After verifying the final results most of the candidates left the counting centres by 5.30 a.m. At that time, Rajapaksa charged, manipulation had taken place.
He claimed that Minister Tennakoon was wary of him and others who were financially stable and had many supporters, and charged that Tennakoon won elections using thuggery.
“Since the mayoral post is given to the candidate with the most number of votes and he is eligible to contest the next general election, Tennakoon knew that if I become the mayor, I would be a challenge for him at the next general election. That was why Tennakoon changed the preferential votes to bring Opatha to the first slot,” alleged Rajapaksa.
Meanwhile, Pramitha Bandara Tennakoon has been accused of assaulting UNP candidate Manjula Rajapaksa for having a UNP poster pasted on his vehicle on Election Day.
Pramitha assaulted him in front of the Dambulla Central School polling booth.  “I got myself discharged after getting treatment to my injured nose,” said Manjula Rajapaksa.
Meanwhile the two candidates accused Dambulla police of being biased towards the Tennakoons and said people who go against the Tennakoon family would not receive any justice from the Dambulla Police.
Pramitha Tennakoon denied that he and his father had engaged in manipulation.
“How could they blame my father when they have not received votes to top the list? Without accusing my father let them accuse the Counting Officers if they think that there was any manipulation. My father assigned five independent people to the counting centers. One was from the National Freedom Front; one was from the Jathika Hela Urumaya, and the other three were from the UPFA. Those who contest for the first time should know that they have more to learn about elections. They cannot expect to top the list overnight,” he said.
Pramitha Tennakoon also denied assaulting UNP candidate Manjula Rajapaksa.
“The police can bear testimony to it,” he said.

CAFFE Director Keerthi Tennekone said that there was evidence of well-planned rigging in the concluded local government elections.
The UPFA prevailed overall by a comfortable majority.
However Tennekone charged that some areas, like Kattankudy showed evidence of rigging due to unusually high voter turnout. One example was Millathmahalir Vidyalaya, where there was a female polling booth. 731 people were registered to vote in this area. Of that, 706 people had voted, showing a voter turnout of approximately 97%.
Tennekone said Kattankudy had always had a problem with identity cards.
A temporary ID card programme had been carried out by CAFFE in the area. “Many people don’t even have ID cards down there. That alone tells the story,” Tennekone said.
He added that polling booths in Baduria Vidyalaya in Batticaloa and Zaviya Vidyalaya showed similarly high turnout.
“People went inside and voted freely. There was no check to see if the real person is coming to vote,” Tennekone observed.
The problem was compounded by the fact that in some areas the opposition parties had no polling agents. “Some of the calculations of voter turnout increased in two hours.
“If the main opposition party can’t put up polling agents, how can they win an election?” he queried.
He said he did not know the reason behind this failure, although he acknowledged there was some pressure on certain political parties.

Merv And His Threats
Minister Silva, speaking to the media after casting his vote, claimed that the JVP and the UNP had attempted to create instability in Kadawatha by supporting a protest by residents in the area who were agitated by the death of three people in an accident.
Silva claimed that some UNP members including General Secretary Tissa Attanayake was also present at the protest. Silva warned that if he had managed to arrive at the scene at the time the UNP members were present they would have had to face his wrath.