Bishop urged political parties to honour voters' will

The local elections, Bishop Kingsley Swamipillai said, should not be seen as a battlefield.

Rt. Rev. Kingsley Swamipillai stressed that the appeal is not a suggestion that it is already becoming a battlefield.

Instead, it was an appeal to make sure all candidates honour the basic democratic right off voters to cast their vote for their selected party and the candidate.

Vote rigging 'a possibility'

The Bishop made the appeal at a meeting held in Batticaloa on Tuesday to discuss the issues related to the election campaign.

Representatives from all parties contesting the 10 March elections and security officials took part in the meeting.

	Many parties expressed concern whether the vote will be rigged

Majority of the representatives expressed concern and fear whether the elections would be free and fair.

Benedict Dhanapalasingham, representing PLOTE, said he feared of vote rigging the polls due to previous experiences in the region.

He urged security authorities to take measures to avoid malpractices.

Representatives from EPDP and EPRLF, parties that support President Rajapaksa's government, expressed similar concerns.

'No violence' in Batticaloa

However, TMVP representative Pradeep Master said the polls should be seen as an opportunity to re-establish multi-party, multi-ethnic democracy in the east.

No elections were held in Batticaloa since 1994, Pradeep Master said, and there have been violence during elections all over the world.

He insisted that there was no violence in Batticaloa district during the campaign.

The TMVP, also known as Karuna faction, contests the elections with the ruling UPFA while EPDP, EPRLF and PLOTE have formed a separate alliance.

Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Prasanna Nanayakkara pledged that the police would not allow any group to carry arms in the district during the campaign.

The elections will be free and fair, he assured the gathering.