Sri Lanka: Poll Violence Claims Politicians
By UCA News
Three people including a former minister were shot dead and an MP badly wounded in violence that occurred during the final phase of nationwide local elections on October 8.
A curfew was introduced, lasting until yesterday morning. Hundreds of police commandos and soldiers remained on the street after party supporters went on a rampage, damaging property and setting vehicles on fire.
The polling was completed despite a gun battle between political rivals who clashed in Mulleriyawa, a Colombo suburb, shortly before voting closed.
Three people including state presidential adviser and former minister Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra were shot dead and Arumadura Lawrence Romelo Duminda Silva, a government member of parliament was in intensive care after brain surgery. Dozens were wounded in the gun battle.
Christian volunteers joined in monitoring the elections.
Priests, nuns and lay Catholics visited the polling stations in 23 councils on behalf of the Movement for Free and Fair Election (MFFE).
The ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) won 21 of the 23 local bodies.
Apart from the Mulleriyawa incident, monitors said, there was no reported trouble.