BBC Sinhala.com
Sri Lankan groups monitoring the presidential election campaign say the levels of election-related violence and misuse of state resources are at their worst for twenty years or more. So far Sri Lanka has seen four election-related deaths.
Reports suggest two victims were involved with the Rajapaksa campaign and two on the Fonseka side.
But there have been many more incidents of injuries.
Rajith Keerthi Tennakoon, of the Campaign for Free and Fair Elections, told the BBC bleakly that he believed both sides were “aggressively moving towards a violent election” and he feared it would worsen.
Over 80 victims
He said more than 80 people had been wounded or killed, with more than 20 instances of firearms used or deployed as a threat. And, he said, the violence appeared to be well organised.
The latest deaths on Tuesday saw one man attacked with swords and beaten to death and another killed in a grenade attack.
JC Weliamuna, of the Programme for Protection of Public Resources, said the state media were ignoring guidelines from the electoral commissioner and were backing the president’s candidacy “one hundred percent”.
He alleged that the extent of misuse of state resources by the current government was unprecented in Sri Lankan electoral history; and said he was concerned that voters would not be able to make an informed choice on polling day.
In his latest campaign speech the president said he would “not permit thuggery to raise its head” in this election. Many are ignoring him.
The vote, in one week’s time, pits two nationalists of the ethnic Sinhalese majority against each other – President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the retired army chief, General Sarath Fonseka.