The police raided the office of Sri Lanka’s defeated presidential candidate on Friday and arrested 15 of his staff members, after officials accused him of plotting to overthrow the government and assassinate his victorious rival.
The candidate, Sarath Fonseka, a general who carried out the successful military operation against the Tamil Tiger insurgency last year, called the allegations fabricated and vowed to challenge President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s party in coming parliamentary elections.
The two men were close allies when they crushed the rebels last year, but had a falling out after the war ended in May. General Fonseka joined the opposition to run against the president, with both sides campaigning on their record as heroes who ended the 26-year separatist rebellion.
Mr. Rajapaksa swept to a resounding victory in Tuesday’s vote, beating the former army chief by 17 percentage points. But General Fonseka rejected the results and accused the government of stealing more than one million of his votes during the tallying process.
The government denied this, and in turn accused General Fonseka of plotting to kill Mr. Rajapaksa and overthrow the government with the help of army deserters and former military officers.
Dozens of police officers raided General Fonseka’s office here in the capital on Friday, taking away computers and detaining 15 ex-military staff members who worked there, said Shiral Laktilaka, the general’s lawyer.
A government spokesman confirmed the raid, but did not give details.
General Fonseka was at his house elsewhere in the capital at the time, said Mano Ganeshan, an opposition official. The police said they were looking for explosives during their five-hour search of the building, according to one office worker.
“This is the price we pay for democracy because he decided to contest the election,” Mr. Laktilaka said.
After his defeat, General Fonseka said the government was harassing his associates, and had recalled his 80-strong state-provided security force, a move he said put his life in danger. He also said authorities had put his name on the list of people who could not leave the country, a claim denied by the government.
The postelection acrimony could continue until the general elections. General Fonseka announced that he planned to run for a parliamentary seat.
The president can dissolve Parliament and call general elections at any point between now and April, when its six-year mandate expires. Mr. Rajapaksa and his coalition partners hold a majority in Parliament.
Detectives also questioned an editor of a pro-opposition newspaper, said an opposition lawmaker, Vijitha Herath. The editor, Chandana Sirimalwatta, of the newspaper Lanka, was asked to report to the Criminal Investigations Department on Friday, the lawmaker said, adding that officials were preparing to obtain an order from the government that could allow a 90-day detention under the country’s wartime emergency laws.
The newspaper backed General Fonseka in the presidential election and has reported on allegations of government corruption.
Separately, authorities ordered a Swiss radio journalist to leave Sri Lanka by Monday, after she asked critical questions at a postelection news conference this week, said Andreas Notter, a spokesman for the national broadcaster.
Sri Lanka has in the past expelled journalists, United Nations officials and aid workers who have spoken publicly about the plight of civilians during the country’s civil war and political repression.
© The New York Times
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