Top opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe Tuesday appealed to Sri Lanka's armed forces to ensure free and fair elections by guaranteeing voters' safety during Wednesday's parliamentary elections.
"I call upon the police and the army to use whatever means are available to them to ensure that voters are not intimidated," Wickremesinghe, leader of the main opposition United National Party, told reporters. The government called in the army Monday to assist 40,000 police after campaigning ended in one of the 53-year-old democracy's most violent elections. Police have said that at least two officers will be at each of the 9,946 polling stations and have been told to arrest on sight anyone who flouts election laws.
"It is the duty of armed forces to ensure safety of citizens and especially during elections," Wickremesinghe said. "This is a very crucial election, as it will decide which way Sri Lanka will go - toward a stable government or chaos," he said.
The government-run Daily News in an editorial Tuesday said the majority of citizens are peace-loving and non-aggressive and want "a trouble-free poll and post-election."
"The violence affecting this country is the product of a few volatile and misguided hotheads," said the editorial. With 41 deaths and more than 2,300 incidents of election related violence recorded since Oct. 21, the campaign is the most violent since monitors began counting in 1997, the independent Center for Monitoring Election Violence said Monday.
The main contest is between Wickremesinghe's opposition alliance and President Chandrika Kumaratunga's governing Peoples' Alliance, although other parties are also participating throughout the country of 18.6 million people. Results are expected by Thursday or Friday. Bureau Report