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Journalism of Courage
As street violence broke out in the capital to protest the jailing of defeated Presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka,Sri Lanka announced the dates for snap parliamentary polls which will be held on April 8.
The schedule for the elections was announced after President Mahinda Rajapaksa dissolved the parliament last night and a notification said that process of nomination of candidates would start from February 19.
The new Parliament is scheduled to meet on April 22.
The opposition while welcoming early polls demanded that the process should be “free and fair” as their supporters held a rally outside the country’s Supreme Court demanding release of Fonseka,who is being held on sedition charges.
They clashed with the ruling party supporters who took out a counter-rally and police had to burst tear gas shells to separate the warring groups.
The clash was the first salvo in what appears to be a violent campaign leading up to the parliamentary polls. The new elections follow an acrimonious tussle in the Presidential elections which saw President Mahinda Rajapaksa secure a landslide victory over Fonseka.
Asserting that the opposition was ready for the polls,United National Party (UNP) General Secretary Tissa Attanayake told a crowded press conference today that the elections should “be free and fair and not like the Presidential polls and the recent provincial council polls”.
