DailyMirror
Digamadulla district election officials said yesterday they would not conduct the polls in the area if the police failed to stop the election violence now raging there. They said the situation had worsened after Ampara Deputy Mayor Saman Morayas and Eastern Province Minister Wimalaweera Dissanayake were assaulted in Ampara town on Sunday.
People yesterday burnt tyres and put up black flags in Damana, Padiyatalawa, Uhana and Dehiattakandiya as a mark of protest.
An election official said the police were asked, to bring the situation under control as soon as possible.
“Otherwise, we will be forced to postpone the voting at several polling booths,” he said.
Meanwhile, Minister Dissanayake who was denied nomination by the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) in Digamadulla said he was thoroughly disgusted at the violence unleashed against him by his own party men.
He said his supporters were being assaulted and intimidated on a daily basis by henchmen of a powerful UPFA candidate.
“On Sunday evening, an unidentified gang stormed into the chena cultivation of my private secretary. The watchman who was there had been threatened. Another businessman who supports me has also come under threat,” he said.
Mr. Dissanayake said he had still not made a political decision on what he should do after the elections.