Tag: lbo

Jan 26, 2010 (LBO) – More than 70 percent of Sri Lanka’s registered electors are estimated to have turned out to vote in Tuesday’s presidential polls, though voting at former war-torn areas in the north and the east was much lower, monitors said. Rohana Hettiarachchi Executive director of PAFREL, an election monitoring body said turnout […]

January 26, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s government said Tuesday that it would challenge the legitimacy of leading opposition candidate Sarath Fonseka, who contested the country’s first post-war presidential election. “We are seeking a court order on the suitability of this candidate because he is not eligible to be declared as a candidate,” Foreign Minister […]

January 25, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s president vowed Monday to ensure the island’s first post-war presidential election goes off peacefully after deadly violence and opposition claims the ruling party was plotting a coup. Fonseka’s side said Sunday there was evidence of a coup plot by Rajapakse’s ruling party to try to hold on to […]

January 24, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s president suffered a major defection on Sunday when the matriarch of his party pledged support for the main opposition candidate ahead of Tuesday’s fiercely contested election. Kumaratunga’s family has strong support among SLFP activists and her endorsement is seen as a boost to Fonseka, who is backed by […]

January 24, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s election this week features two men who emerged victorious on the battlefield of a civil war, but have since become bitter political enemies. President Mahinda Rajapakse, a veteran streetfighter politician who entered parliament aged 24, is taking on his former army chief Sarath Fonseka, a political novice who […]

January 24, 2010 (AFP) – War-scarred Sri Lanka holds a peace-time presidential election this week after a bitter and highly personal campaign between the architects of the crushing of an almost four-decade-long insurgency. President Mahinda Rajapakse will face his former army chief Sarath Fonseka on Tuesday in an intriguing contest between two men who were […]

January 22, 2010 (AFP) – A key opposition activist in Sri Lanka was targeted at home by a bomb early Friday, police said, despite tighter security ahead of next week’s presidential election. Ban urged all Sri Lanka parties and their supporters “to show restraint and refrain from violence, to adhere to the electoral laws and […]

Jan 22, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s upcoming presidential polls will be monitored by around 40 observers representing the Association of Asian Election Authorities (AAEA), a Taiwan based body, officials said. The Asian observers had come on an invitation extended by elections chief Dayananda Dishanayake, Pan Wel-Ta, Taiwanese election commissioner, who is heading the mission […]

UNITED NATIONS, January 20, 2010 (AFP) – UN chief Ban Ki-moon is alarmed by the growing violence in Sri Lanka, including the reported slaying of political activists, ahead of the upcoming presidential elections, his spokesman said Wednesday. “The Secretary General is concerned about the growing violence in the lead-up to the presidential election in Sri […]

Jan 20, 2010 (LBO) – A Sri Lankan citizen’s group has written to the two main candidates running for next weeks polls asking for more attention to the island’s minority groups and constitutional reforms to promote equality to all citizens. “We note with distress a major lacuna in both manifestos,” the group, Friday Forum said […]

January 18, 2010 (AFP) – A Sri Lankan opposition supporter was killed on Monday as fresh unrest erupted ahead of next week’s presidential election despite a security crackdown, police said. The man was killed in a clash with ruling party activists in northwestern Sri Lanka, the third politically-related death in the run-up to the vote […]