JVP refuses to accept defeat, claims results manipulated
(Created date: 29-Jan-2010) Back
Somawansa says Defence Secy threatened him 
Kamal Bogoda captured Somawansa Amarasinghe at yesterday briefing. MP Vijitha Herath looks on.
JVP leader Somawansa Amarasinghe yesterday said that his outfit would not accept defeat at Tuesday’s presidential poll as the government had manipulated the result. Addressing the media at the party headquarters, he said that the government had won election through computer fraud.
He said that the President had failed to win the Northern and Eastern Provinces though he claimed he called early presidential polls to give an opportunity for Tamil speaking people to exercise their franchise. The people of Northern and Eastern Provinces had overwhelmingly rejected the President, he said.
He accused the government of carrying out a hate campaign against Opposition Presidential candidate General (retd) Sarath Fonseka. He said that the government
had abused State resources and engaged in a gamut of election malpractices to undermine the Opposition candidate, who drew large crowds during the campaign. He said that even government supporters were suspicious of this so-called victory.
He alleged that he was threatened over the telephone by Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
"I received a telephone call around 9.21 this morning from the Secretary who asked me to stop my political work and also stop printing the Lanka newspaper or else I would come to harm," Amarasinghe said.
The JVP leader also showed reporters the telephone number from which he had received the call and said he had clarified that it was the number used by the Defence Secretary.
The government said that this was nothing but another lie propagated by the Opposition. A senior spokesman told The Island that the Opposition was obviously running out of excuses for its pathetic performance.
