POLLS CHIEFTO GET DOWN FOREIGN MONITORS

Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya yesterday assured he would strive to obtain the services of foreign monitors for the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) Elections.

He gave this assurance to representatives of several opposition political parties when they met him at the Elections Secretariat.

United National Party (UNP) General Secretary Tissa Attanayake said the opposition parties were keen to obtain the services of monitors from the Commonwealth union and elsewhere to control the use of state resources by the ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA).

He said the polls chief had assured the political party representatives that it was possible to get down foreign monitors and to issue various directives with regard to the use of state resources but insisted that the action he could take was limited under the present electoral laws.

It was earlier reported that the UNP would brief President Mahinda Rajapaksa on matters discussed at yesterday’s meeting when it met him shortly. UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe had sought a meeting with President Rajapaksa to discuss constitutional reforms.

Democratic People’s Front (DPF) Leader Mano Ganesan said the parties actually alerted the polls chief on the issues that might crop up with regard to the NPC elections. He informed the Polls Chief that the ruling party had already started propaganda work in the North using the military personnel for this purpose.

NSSP Leader Wickramabahu Karunaratne said the Polls Chief pointed out that there was very little a public servant could do to maintain the rule of law today in a situation where they were subjected to undue state influence.

Nawa Sihala Urumaya leader Sarath Manamendra, Samaraweera Weerawani from the Mawubima Janatha Party, Tamil and Muslim Alliance Leader Asath Salley and Janatha Peramuna leader Sirimasiri Hapuarachchi participated at the discussions.