Fonseka rejects Sri Lanka election win for Rajapaksa
President Mahinda Rajapaksa has been declared the winner of Sri Lanka's presidential poll, but the outcome was immediately rejected by his challenger.
Gen Sarath Fonseka promised a legal challenge to the outcome of the ballot, the first since Tamil Tiger rebels were defeated after 25 years of civil war.
The Elections Commission declared Mr Rajapaksa the victor with 57.8% of votes cast, to 40% for his rival.
Troops earlier surrounded the Colombo hotel where Gen Fonseka is staying.
A government spokesman told the BBC they did not intend to hold Gen Fonseka but were looking for army deserters.
A military spokesman said the troops' deployment was a "protective measure".
The BBC's Anbarasan Ethirajan, who is in the same hotel as Gen Fonseka and other opposition leaders, says the troops' presence has created a very tense atmosphere.
An opposition spokesman, Rauf Hakeem, said opposition members had appealed to the government over what he said were "high-handed tactics" intended to intimidate them.
He told reporters there were no deserters inside the hotel.
Gen Fonseka has alleged vote-rigging and has lodged several objections with Sri Lanka's electoral commission.
He has also accused the government of wanting to kill him, the BBC's Charles Haviland in Colombo says.
One of the reasons behind Gen Fonseka's challenge to the election outcome may be that he fears for his own safety in Sri Lanka now he has lost, our correspondent says.
Since he left the army the higher ranks have very much rallied behind Mr Rajapaksa, our correspondent adds. Gen Fonseka also does not have his own party base, having stood for election backed by a disparate group of opposition parties.
Independent election observers have been perturbed by two main elements, our correspondent says, one of which is the amount of violence in the run-up to the election - with most complaints about the perpetration of violence laid at the door of the president's side.
The other is what monitors say is the misuse of public resources and state media, particularly state-run TV, which provided blanket coverage of the incumbent president's campaign.
Some 70% of Sri Lanka's 14 million-strong electorate turned out to vote. However, turnout in the Tamil areas in the north-east, where the fiercest fighting occurred during the conflict, was less than 30%.
Lucien Rajakarunanayake, a spokesman for Mr Rajapaksa, told the Associated Press news agency that the president had "won a historic and resounding victory in the first free and fair elections held throughout the country since the defeat of terrorism".
Supporters of Mr Rajapaksa celebrated in the streets of Colombo, waving Sri Lankan flags and setting off fireworks.
After a violent and acrimonious campaign, during which four people died and hundreds were wounded, Tuesday's election was largely peaceful.
But there were serious exceptions, especially in the Tamil-populated north.
In the city of Jaffna, the private Centre for Monitoring Election Violence said there were at least six explosions before and just after voting began.
Later there were two blasts in Vavuniya, the town near the huge camps for people displaced by the war. The
organisation said it feared this was a systematic attempt to scare people away from voting.
There were also grenade attacks in the Sinhala-dominated centre and south.
It later turned out that Gen Fonseka had not been able to vote because his name was not on the register.
The two men were closely associated with the defeat of the Tamil Tigers last May but fell out soon afterwards. Gen Fonseka quit the military, complaining that he had been sidelined after the war.
The president's side accuses the general of courting separatists. The general has accused the president of plotting vote-rigging and violence, something his rival denies.
Both main candidates have promised voters costly subsidies and public sector pay rises.
However, economists say this will make it hard for the country to meet cost-cutting obligations imposed under the terms of a $2.6bn (£1.6bn) International Monetary Fund loan. - couresty: bbc.co.uk -
AT THE SCENE
by Anbarasan Ethirajan, BBC News, Colombo
Troops remain outside the hotel where Gen Fonseka is staying.
A short while ago, Gen Fonseka told a press conference he wanted the elections annulled following widespread irregularities in the run-up.
He has written to the Elections Commission listing his complaints and the reasons why he believes the result should be cancelled. He thinks he could have won had it not been for the government's misuse of state media.
He was also critical of the government's withdrawal of some of his security detail, saying there had been plans to assassinate him if he left the building. He said that is why he wanted to go abroad for a short while.
The government said there were no restrictions on him leaving the hotel.
9 Comments
Dear retired General,
You don't need to worry about arrest. MR is a gentleman and he is not evil,vindicative like you and your other stupid supporters like Ranil,Somawansa,Mangala[back by CBK]. You have still time to think about your peaceful retirement in SL. Use your brain and stay away the evil opposition right away.
Me and SL people love you as a military commander who defeat terrorism from our soil, and people forgive you because you were misguided by local and international conspirators. Good Luck General! Theruwan Saranai!
Mr.Ethirajan
Fonseka is talking about the vote rigging,but just after the polling his main ally Anura kumara Dissanayake said election was a free and a fair one.There were some expolsions in Jaffna but there were no casualties.ha ! ha!1 we need constructive critisism
What happen to the "King Maker Tamils"? The western media must know by now that world doesn't revolve around Tamils.
Please understand the sin those bankrupt politics have been committing; Dragging SF to politics and killing his reputation, respect, carrier and everything: complete annihilation of his heroic / patriotic personality.
You did that to Janaka and Algama and allowed them to get assassinated. Today you accomplished doing that to SF, ruining all what he had. You made him rabid. Definitely, it will be a curse for you-sick-clan for decades in SL.
SL forces and worthy professionals, please beware of these rabid dogs. You may be victimized by them too.
We need a solid mechanism to gain minority trust but not with over-night promises (lies) or harassment. Corruption free, good governance should be demanded for the country. SL people should seriously think these and push the leaders for that cautiously, not being a victim for outside powers.
It is very clear that undemocratic, unlawful vote rigging exercise happened at the last moment of the election.There are very clear evidence that they have taken some advise from Iranian way of election result manipulation.Sarath Fonseka may have won the election.They have doubled the results to mislead nation and the international community.I hope you will get to know the truth in incoming days.
Basil is smarter and shrewder than expected. Many expected that Wayamba will revisit; that large scale threats and voter intimidation occur in the North & East, thanks to Douglas and Karuna's reigns of terror. Instead of confronting the enemy in a battle field where he is well prepared, Basil would have done the followings:
1. Organizing small scale thuggery & intimidation to give an impression that government is not free of sins this time too
2. Bribing counting agents of SF with few million bucks as most of them are from poor economic backgrounds and even Rs. 100K is a great boon for them. Their job is to keep silent!
3. Get hold of the jugular vein of the elections department with a violent grip and release the results according to the tabulation prepared before the elections by the crooked team of experts employed and planted by Basil.
For this kind of an operation you do do not require large contingents of thugs; You escape the radar of the media and monitors; You get a certificate of "Peaceful Elections" Which is better, threatening thousands of voters and paying thousands of thugs or threatening one or few persons at the right spot along the chain and paying few hundred poor counting agents.
Praba should be happy in his grave!! He didn't want a prosperous Sri Lanka. I couldn't achieve my Eelam, but I am going to achieve my second objective, " a chaotic Sri Lanka. Its right time for Lee Kwan Yew to retract his famous declaration of 1966 that he will make Singapore as vibrant as Sri Lanka. Oh Lankans!! wait for a police state or death!!!
If legal action is taken it may be exactly what the Rajapaksas' want. A case can go on for 2 years before it is thrown out and then the new president can be sworn in for a full 6 year term that means that he doesn't lose a day of his full 2 terms !
The question of how to go on for another 8 years of debauchery must be the burning question in the rajapaksa camp at present.
The very thought of that makes me shudder and even question the existence of the Gods' I believe in !
Useless talking about vote rigging and of manipulation this time.
1. Fonseka fielded a number of supporters at the presidential poll to avail himself of a lot of Polling booth/Counting Center agents. Where were they? Have they complained about irregularities?
2. Fonseka is a novice to electioneering. The process of vote counting, signing-off, computerization, reporting to the Election Commissioner and all is a tried and tested system. It has control checks. Party supporters see it at every stage. It's transparent. Officials are accountable. They fear a Supreme Court penalty. The moment (as alleged by Fonseka over Basil/Gotabaya) this system is dissected, many people see it. Sid we hear any complaint from any counting center? EC secretariat?
2. Fonseka talks about 'peoples enthusiasm'. He misread it as support for him. Never in SL you can judge election results by looking at a sea of people at rallies. For instance his JVP has a mobile brigade tasked to go from one rally to another.
Fonseka, has to make a substantial case to prove votes lost to him has accrued to Mahinda. Mere vague statements would not help.
Thank you Basil the Great!