Contrary to Opposition accusations, the government will give the war displaced an opportunity to exercise their franchise at the forthcoming presidential election.

Of some 300,000 men, women and children displaced at the end of war in May, about 120,000 remained in government-run welfare camps in the North.

Northern Province Governor Major General (retd) G. A. Chandrasiri yesterday told The Island that those still at welfare centres were given the freedom of movement effective Tuesday (December 1).

A senior government official told The Island that the government also welcomed Elections Commi-ssioner Dayananda Dissanayake’s decision to invite foreign personnel, including European Union representatives to monitor the presidential as well as parliamentary polls.

He said that there was absolutely no basis to some media reports that the government feared the presence of foreign monitors and may deny them visas to thwart their deployment ahead of presidential polls.

In the run up to presidential election declaration, UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, MP and two leading Opposition figures, Mangala Samaraweera and Mano Ganeshan accused President Rajapaksa of planning to deny voting rights to the war displaced.

Responding to our queries, the official said that the government would not in anyway interfere with Elections Commissioner’s decisions with regard to the presidential and parliamentary polls. He acknowledged that foreign elections monitoring missions had received invitations from the Elections Secretariat a few weeks ago.

Lalith Weeratunga, Secretary to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, told The Island that he had already discussed the IDP issue with the Elections Chief who recently issued the instructions necessary to pave the way for them to exercise their franchise.

The Island recently (Nov 26) raised this issue with President Rajapaksa at a meeting called by Temple Trees where the President assured that the IDPs would be given an opportunity to vote though the LTTE had denied their right at the last presidential election in November 2005. Ministers Dallas Alahapperuma and Anura Priyadharshana Yapa, too, said that even those who had fled the Northern and Eastern Provinces years ago were given an opportunity to exercise their franchise wherever they lived.

A source close to the Colombo based diplomatic community told The Island that they had been primarily concerned about two issues, namely the possibility of the war displaced being denied an opportunity to join the election process and also denial of visas to foreign observers representing countries and organisations considered to be hostile to Sri Lanka. The diplomatic community had recently received an assurance that the government would not bar foreign observers.

Although some have been critical of foreign election monitors, even the military admits that the final report issued by the European Union Election Observation Mission at the last parliamentary election was undoubtedly the most balanced. Sources said that it correctly revealed the shortcomings in the process as well as the LTTE operation to help the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to win the April 2004 poll.

Opposition presidential election candidate retired Army Chief General Sarath Fonseka on Sunday (Nov 30) welcomed the deployment of both local and foreign observers.

Government sources said that both local and foreign observers could engage in monitoring in any part of the country. Sources emphasised that the Northern and Eastern Provinces, including the Vanni would be open for monitoring.

UPFA General Secretary Minister Susil Premjayanth told a recent media briefing that the forthcoming presidential poll could not be compared with any previous election due to the absence of the LTTE factor.

The Elections Department pointed out that unlike on previous occasions, there would not be cluster polling booths in ‘no man’s zones’ to allow people living in areas outside government control to cast their votes.