Polls chief pressurized to hold presidential election on Jan. 03!

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Created On Tuesday, 18 November 2014 

On a request by the Vatican to finish holding the presidential election at least 10 days prior to avoid any disruptions to the visit by Pope Francis, the government is exerting pressure on the elections commissioner to hold the polls on January 03 somehow, reports say.

Meeting the polls chief last week, a group of intellectuals comprising
Lawyers, university lecturers, human rights activists and former diplomats asked him not to give into the government pressure, act independently and impartially and hold the election at his discretion.

However, he is continuing to be pressurized to hold the election without disrupting the pontiff’s visit. The government organized a camera and presenter crew of a private television channel and sent them to the elections commissioner’s office yesterday in an attempt to obtain a statement from him that the election would take place on January 03. However, he has refused to give such a statement.

Replying to their questions repeatedly, the polls chief said he cannot decide the date for the election on his own, and that it should be decided after discussions with state administration officials, the IGP and other heads of law enforcement agencies.

Will this elections chief too, get stressed?

Anyhow, members of the group of intellectuals that met the elections commissioner last week told ‘Lanka News Web’ that it was made clear to them at the meeting that the government was exerting intense pressure on him. During their discussion, a senior minister in the government called the election’s commissioner on his official telephone and the mobile phone for about five times citing various reasons, they said.

In such a situation, in the same manner the then elections commissioner Dayananda Dishanayake got stressed during the 2010 presidential election, it is more likely that the incumbent too, will become mentally stressed, they told ‘LNW.’