Elections Commissioner, Dayananda Dissanayake yesterday decided not to order a re-poll in electorates where polling booths had been subjected to violence or alleged vote-rigging after political party leaders told him that they did not think it necessary.

Consequently, the commissioner started announcing the results of the Kandy and Gampaha during the afternoon, after the meeting with party leaders ended.

Earlier in the day, the results of Colombo, Kegalle, Matara, Galle, Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Kurunegala, Jaffna, Wanni and Digamadulla districts were released.

The Commissioner commented that the election - with 2,332 incidents and 46 murders reported to police up to yesterday morning - was the most violent he had ever experienced. "I have never observed such a situation before," he said. He urged political parties, particularly the PA and UNP, to work actively to prevent a repetition in future. "If not, people will become disillusioned about elections," he warned.

Among the offences committed were burning of ballot boxes, invasion of booths by armed gangs, prevention of elections officials from conducting their duties, destruction of ballot boxes and rigging.

Dissanayake said that when he called the meeting with party secretaries, he had been "determined" to order a re-poll in affected areas but had to defer the decision after political parties reached consensus to the contrary. "I had to drop the idea of a re-poll and agreed to release the results," he said.

Dissanayake said although the 17th Amendment to the Constitution had strengthened him considerably, various obstacles had been placed in his path. "I was able to overcome pressure with the help of our officers," he said.

Political sources also said the People’s Alliance (PA) had been "a little reluctant" to drop the idea of a re-poll but had agreed in the face of all other parties agreeing that it wasn’t necessary.

They said there had been some arguments between the United National Party (UNP) and PA during the one-and-half hour meeting held at the elections department in Rajagiriya. The PA , led by D. M. Jayaratne, had leaned towards a re-poll.

Commissioner Dissanayake had been particularly concerned about the Kandy district, where votes of 29 stations were annulled. This amounted to around 30,000 ballots. Galagedara, Patha Dumbara, Kundasale, Hewaheta and Gampola were the districts worst hit. Meanwhile, certain stations in the north and east, Gampaha and Kurunegala had also been affected. Two stations were annulled in Gampaha, two in Matale, two in Kurunegala, one in Puttalam and one in Polonnaruwa. 412 rigged ballots were detected in Kandy, 180 in Hambantota, 460 in Kurunegala, 51 in Gampaha and several more in Polonnaruwa.

Senerath Kapukotuwa, UNP general secretary, told ‘The Island’ that his party had felt that the vote polled in stations which had been annulled would not greatly affect the national outcome.

"We did calculations and found that even if the PA had scored in these stations, there would be no difference in the UNP’s overall victory," Kapukotuwa explained.

The parties who objected to a re-poll also feared that if this was done, the PA or other interested groups may file legal action of some sort to delay the final declaration of the election or the fresh vote.

Tilvin Silva, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) general secretary, said that the parties had been anxious to avoid a repeat of violence and murder and that this was one of the main reasons why the JVP had objected to a re-poll.

Rauff Hakeem, Sri Lanka Muslim Congress leader, had been one of the candidates most affected by the violence in Kandy which he claimed had been targetted personally at him. However, he too agreed a re-poll was not necessary.

"We also went along with rest of the parties," he told ‘The Island.’ "Although a re-poll was likely to have resulted in a better position for the United National Front (UNF), we didn’t want to delay the election."

"As responsible citizens, we feared a repetition of the incidents that had occurred on election day," Hakeem said. The SLMC, nevertheless, wanted a commission of inquiry appointed to investigate the acts of violence and brutality committed on election day particularly against members of the Muslim community.

Commissioner Dissanayake also referred to the votes of people in uncleared areas of the north and east.

They had been prevented from entering cleared areas to vote by the army which had closed the entry points due to security reasons. He said that he had met the Inspector General of Police and the Army Commander on Thursday night and explored the possibility of holding elections for those in the Wanni and Batticaloa districts. However, it was held unfeasible.