A number of surveys conducted by several organizations have predicted that President Mahinda Rajapaksa will receive 61 per cent of the votes and a one million majority in next Tuesday’s election, Media Minister Lakshman Yapa Abyewardene said yesterday.

He also said Presidential candidate General Sarath Fonseka had made contradictory statements and his recent remarks such as ‘Kalaveddha’ and ‘Paharaya’, pointing to his ex-collegue, were unbecoming of a man of that calibre.

Addressing a media conference at the Information Department, Minister Abyewardene said UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe had also tarnished the image of Sri Lanka with his latest remarks in Europe.

The Minister alleged that Wickremesinghe had made a statement that the then army commander General Fonseka carried out the orders issued by President Rajapaksa to eliminate the LTTE after the Mawilaru incident. At the same time, Wickremesinghe had said that he would have been elected President if the LTTE had not ordered the Tamil community not to vote for him.

The Minister pointed out that the then TULF leader had made a statement in 2001 similar to the five demands put forward by the TNA.

The demands put forward by TULF included the acceptance of Tamil community as a separate nation, acceptance of Tamil nation and its territorial integrity, acceptance of the rights of the Tamil community for self-rule and ensure the basic rights of the Tamil community.

Minister Abyewardene said the five conditions put forward by the TNA were in agreement with the demands put forward by the TULF in 2001. General Fonseka’s group had concurred with the implementation of those conditions in the hope that he would be elected the President.