One good turn deserves another

It was not so long ago that we saw participants in the Asian, African, Eastern European and Latin American countries claiming that the elections that were held in their countries were rigged in favour of the government or political party in power of the day. We are now witnessing a new chapter opening in the electoral process in the self-acclaimed champion of democracy and in the political life of the US.   

The world is faced with a new reality –serious charges are being levelled that the US election of November 8, 2016, is being rigged and could prove to be as ‘fraudulent’ as some of the elections held in the aforementioned nations. Apparently ‘Crooked Hilary’ is behind the deceit being cooked up in the US.  The charge is being made by a mainstream party contesting the US presidential election, the nominee of the Republican Party - the party of Dwight D. Eisenhower, (who led the allied forces in World War II against Nazi Germany), the party of Ronald Regan who oversaw the fall of the Soviet Union.

Donald Trump the nominee of the Republican Party has charged that this November’s US presidential election was being rigged in favour of the Democratic Party. Hundreds of thousands of Trump’s grass-root level supporters echo the same charge. At the third of the internationally televised presidential candidate debates, Trump insisted that he would not guarantee he would accept the election result.  

The Republican nominee has also called on his supporters to gather near polling stations to prevent voter impersonation. He has claimed that even the dead are voting at the US elections.  

Given the tensions arising at this particular presidential election - which has sunk to unbelievably low depths - political opponents have been physically attacked and even party offices set ablaze. Adding to this witches brew, in the US, citizens are permitted to bear weapons… and Trump has called on his supporters to gather at polling stations to prevent impersonation. How the Republican Party and Trump supporters will react to his call to prevent impersonation at polling stations is too fearful to imagine. In the US election it is the electoral colleges which ultimately select the President after the popular vote is over. Forecasters have shown that the Democratic nominee, whom Mr. Trump refers to as ‘Crooked Hilary’ is leading by more than 2:1.   

 There is every likelihood that Republicans will in fact lose this election by a fairly large margin. To make matters worse, Mr. Trump is attacking the leadership of his own party with the same vigour that he is attacking his Democratic Party opponent – Ms. Clinton!  

Today the international community is witness to high-level charges of election fraud and a growing danger of election violence as well as post election violence. Steps need to be taken to prevent this happening.  

Election fraud in the US - the self proclaimed champion of democracy- will spawn election fraud the world over. It is the duty of all forces who believe in democracy to do all in their power to protect what appears to be a failing democracy in the US.  To ensure that we ‘Third World Countries’ will not rig elections, the US and the West have generously sponsored local election monitors to ensure free elections. They have also sponsored International Election Observers, who more often than not are invited by local election monitors.   

Today the US is in a similar plight, and there is therefore an urgent need for an international body of election monitors/observers to be present on US soil, from at least a week prior to the election date - namely November 8, 2016- to ensure that the people of the US are not only able to cast their ballot freely but also check on whether the election itself is held in an atmosphere free of threats, where citizens feel free to vote for a candidate of their choice.  

Sri Lanka has a number of experienced local election monitors who have during past elections – even at short notice - been able to assemble teams of international personalities to oversee elections. It is now time to repay the US and the West for sponsoring these election monitoring bodies in our country.   

This is the time around, Sri Lanka should offer the services of its vibrant election monitors - ranging from the People’s Action For Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL), the Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) and the Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) - to offer their collective expertise to the US government and ensure whoever he/she may be is elected president, is elected at a fair and free poll.