Daily News Editorial

Probe this one too

Monday 30th November 2015

 

Once again the issue of the 2005 Presidential Election results has been brought to the surface with several UNP MPs calling for an investigation into the whole affair, according to a vernacular weekend newspaper. In the election which was held on the 17th of November that year Mahinda Rajapaksa emerged the victor by a slim 180,000 vote majority over main rival Ranil Wickremesinghe. This was amidst an enforced boycott of the election in the entirety of the North, by the LTTE, where Wickremesinghe was billed to receive around 80 percent of the vote.(going by results of subsequent elections).

Had the election in the North proceeded in the normal course he (Wickremesinghe) would have been the President in 2005. It was later reveled that the election boycott in the North was result of a well planned conspiracy, hatched by the Rajapaksa camp, with the LTTE paid a yet undisclosed sum of money to enforce the boycott. The contract was carried as per the deal and Rajapaksa was elected President.

The late Sripathi Suriyaarachchi who was a party to the deal, representing the Rajapaksa camp made some startling revelations in Parliament giving the time, dates, amounts and venue where the transaction took place, after falling foul with the Rajapaksas. Shortly after the disclosure the former MP died in a violent road accident that is still shrouded in mystery. His widow too started making certain disclosures but was soon allegedly bought over by the Rajapaksas and promptly went silent.

Among those involved in the deal were Bail Rajapaksa, Emil Kanthan representing the LTTE, Tiran Alles and Lalith Weeratunga, as disclosed by Suriyaarchchi. There was no denial by Mahinda Rajapaksa or any of the parties allegedly involved except for some feeble attempts by Basil Rajapaksa to refute the claim of his estranged colleague, in Parliament. Suriyaarachhci's speech is recorded in the Hanzard and it behoves the present Government to pay heed to the request of the UNP MPs and reopen the case, since, if indeed the deal took place, it amounts to not only a denial of the franchise of a section of the people but also a distortion of the verdict of a national election and a reversal of the democratic process.

It is indeed strange that the election was not challenged by the UNP via an election petition, as the SLFP did the 1988 Presidential Election that was marred by the enforced boycott of the JVP. On that occasion the court was constrained to accept that the number of votes that would have accrued to the rival candidate Srima Bandaranaike if not for the boycott would not have made a difference to the result. However in the case of 2005 there was little doubt that the overwhelming majority in the North would have certainly voted for the minority friendly Ranil as opposed to MR whose entire campaign was marked by a virulent anti minority rhetoric and the danger of separation, in the event of RW assuming the country's leadership. Perhaps the presence of Sarath N. Silva at the helm of the Supreme Court would have deterred the UNP from filing an election petition having burnt its fingers challenging the result of the 1999 Presidential Election before the same individual.

Rajapaksa going soft on the LTTE in the immediate aftermath of his victory as opposed to his anti Tamil rhetoric on the campaign trail also lends credence to Suriyaarachchi's accusation. There was a lull in the fighting and also a marked absence of terrorist attacks in the South. It was the Mavil Aru episode, much later in 2008, where a fait accompli was delivered to Rajapaksa by the LTTE that changed the course of the Eelam war. Until that time Rajapaksa was merely pussy footing, not taking any tangible steps to defeat the LTTE as seen from the resumption of ‘peace talks’ in Geneva in 2006. There is also the ‘White flag episode’ where the Rajapaksas attempted to save Pulitheevan from the being shot, for the latter's part in the deal, as disclosed by Premier Wickremesinghe in Parliament recently.

It is surprising indeed that when a plethora of investigations are currently underway to deal with mega corruption, one of the worse acts of corruption, namely paying billions to a proscribed terrorist organisation to enforce an election boycott, thereby distorting the people's verdict, has so far escaped the attention of the Government. True, the LTTE is no more. Neither is Suriyaarachchi among the living. But Tiran Alles has made a vital claim shedding light on the whole transaction. There is also Basil Rajapaksa and Lalith Weeratunga who were allegedly present when the deal was made. There is also the material contained in the Hanzard. The Government particularly Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe should move in the matter if for no other reason than to set the record straight. It should try to ascertain the source of funds paid to the LTTE. It is a fond claim by Mahinda Rajapaksa these days that certain western embassies funded his electoral defeat. It would be interesting to find out if there was a similar plot hatched by certain embassies in 2005 too that saw Rajapaksa's elevation to the Presidency.