Election officials to decide on re poll in the affected polling stations
The elections secretariat said yesterday it was yet to decide whether to declare the overall results of the Kandy and Trincomalee district without taking into account the votes polled in some of the polling stations where the counting was suspended or whether to hold fresh polls there.
The final results were withheld at several polling stations in the Kandy district’s Nawalapitiya electorate due to numerous incidents of election related violence while the final result of postal voting in the Trincomalee district was also withheld due to election malpractice at one of the polling stations.
Trincomalee Assistant Elections Commissioner Nishantha Pinidiya said the high level of election malpractice in the Trincomalee district’s Kumburupitiya polling station had compelled election officials to suspend the counting of votes.
“If we think the voting at the affected polling stations will not affect the final results of the Kandy and Trincomalee districts we will declare the results of the two districts or if otherwise we will hold fresh elections for those registered to vote at the affected polling stations,” a spokesman for the elections secretariat said.
International election monitors attached to the Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) said yesterday that some candidates had violated election laws even on polling day by distributing their leaflets and handbills among voters.
ANFREL’s executive director Ms. Somsri Han-Anuntasuk, who monitored the polls in the Kurunegala district, said that some candidates were seen doing this near polling stations. Besides this, she said, some government ministers who contested the election were freely using state vehicles pasted with their stickers. Ms. Anuntasuk stressed the need to have elections regulations that would prohibit candidates being present in polling stations once they had cast their votes.
Meanwhile, the Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFÉ) charged yesterday that the lethargic approach shown by officers of the elections department, the police department and others towards conducting a free and fair general election (from the pre poll period up to polling day) had cauesd the people of Sri Lanka to lose their faith in the franchise.
CaFFÉ Director Keerthi Tennekoon told a media briefing that this election had recorded the lowest voter turnout in the history of parliamentary elections in Sri Lanka since 1989, and that that was a result of people losing faith in elections. He directly blamed the department of elections and the police for not taking action during the pre poll period to stop violations of election laws and said this had resulted in a breakdown of the rule of law on polling day yesterday.
Mr. Tennekoon said CaFFÉ has received reports of 122 incidents yesterday, with seven cases of assault, 64 instances of violation of election laws, 21 instances of chasing away of elections officers from polling stations and 27 cases of illegal propaganda.
The Elections Commissioner yesterday instructed election officials to stain only the ring finger but not the little finger of voters as usual before they cast their votes.
The little fin ger of voters was stained with indelible ink up to now to prevent election frauds, Deputy Commissioner of Elections W.P.Sumanasiri said.
Mr. Sumanasiri said a pen, instead of a pencil used up to now, will be provided to voters to mark the vote and preferential votes.
A voter is entitled to mark three preferential votes in addition to the vote. The marking of the vote for a political party or an independent group is vital. Preferential votes will not be valid without a vote marked against a political party symbol.After marking the vote for a political party, the voter could mark three preferential votes with an X. Voters are free not to mark preferential votes or to mark only one or two preferential votes as he or she wishes, Mr. Sumanasiri added.
The Elections Secretariat will be able to announce the first postal voting result before midnight, he said.
The Trade Union Confederation urged approximately 200,000 government employees, involved in election duties today (08), to ensure a free and fair election. General Secretary of the TUC Saman Ratnapriya said yesterday (07) that it was their responsibility to uphold the democratic right of the voters by ensuring that polling and counting of votes was incident free.
According to election monitoring reports, there have been over three hundred cases where election laws have been grossly violated by candidates and their supporters. There have also been reports of election violence and even one murder related to election violence, he said.
The elections are being held in an environment where the year 2008 voters register was being used for the 2010 General Election. Over 100,000 voters have not received their polling cards. There have also been many inconsistencies in issuing identity cards.
Ratnapriya urged those on election duty to prevent illegal acts, to resist intimidation and undue pressure. The TUC should be informed of such issues as soon as possible, he said, pledging the Confederation‘s intervention in the event of any government employee, on election duty, being subject to inconvenience whilst on duty.
Ratnapriya requested the support of all political parties and individuals contesting the elections to help the TUC to conduct the election in a free and fair manner.
More than 14 million persons – 14,088,500 to be exact – are expected to go to the polls on Thursday to elect members to the next Parliament. Out of 7,620 candidates vying for seats in the 225-member Legislature, 196 will be directly elected by the people.
Twenty-nine members will be nominated for the National List of MPs, based on the percentage of votes polled by each party. The main parties in the running are the ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA); the United National Front (UNF), led by the United National Party (UNP); the Democratic National Alliance (DNA), under the leadership of detained General (retd.) Sarath Fonseka, and the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK), in the North and East.
Colombo district has the highest concentration of registered voters, 1,521,854, followed by Gampaha with 1,474,464 voters and Kurunegala with 1,183,649. Colombo district will also return the largest number of Members of Parliament (19), followed by Gampaha (18), and Kurunegala (15). The Elections Secretariat has made special arrangements for displaced persons to vote from their places of residence. (Read More)
Ggovernment claims that the April 08 election will be held under tight security. 59,000 police officers and 20,000 soldiers are deployed to provide security. The election will be monitored by some 30,000 election monitors. Despite all this, the people’s faith in elections is at an all time low due to the actions of the elections commissioner who has engaged in a systematic campaign to sideline journalists, civil society organizations and election monitors.
“The elections commissioner in the last few months has done irrevocable damage to the peoples’ faith in elections. He blocked foreign observers from coming in and refused to allow local monitors to enter the counting centres,” said Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) spokesman Keerthi Tennakoon. “And now for the first time in our election history the commissioner has decided not to hold a pre election media briefing. This has taken away the chance for journalists to ask questions, clarify matters and to draw public attention to flaws.” The elections commissioner has also decided not to allow journalists from photographing VIPs on the day of the election. This is another step to keep the media away from polling booths.
“The commissioner has forbidden the media to take photographs of the VIPs on election day. What’s the logic behind this? What’s the harm in taking a photograph? It’s a tradition that has been there for decades. It’s just another move to limit access to the media. If journalists are kept away from the polling booths anyone can carry out election malpractices without a worry,” Tennakoon added.(Read More)
International election monitors stressed yesterday that Sri Lanka should have a proactive and strong Independent Election Commission even with powers to ban political parties and disqualify candidates unless they adhered to lawful election practices.
Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) Executive Director Ms. Somsri Han-Anuntasuk told the Daily Mirror in an interview last evening that an Election Commission should not be afraid of powerful political parties and candidates when implementing the law.
She said that there is such an Election Commission in Thailand. “They banned a political party recently,” she said. (Read More)
Foreign monitors including members from the European Union (EU) have been left out of the election monitoring process amidst allegations by the main opposition UNP that the Commissioner of Elections has failed to forward the invitations in time.
The Elections Department yesterday confirmed that no foreign monitors had been invited for the monitoring process. European Union Ambassador Bernard Savage told the Sunday Times the EU had not received an invitation to send monitors for the April 8 poll.
“We were made to understand that as there was no unanimity among the political parties an invitation was not extended,” he said. Deputy Elections Commissioner A.W. Sumanasiri told The Sunday Times that political parties had shown little interest in getting the EU monitors and their request to invite EU monitors came at the last moment.
A spokesman for the department said that during the Presidential elections though an Asian monitoring group was invited, this time they too were not being invited. He also claimed political parties did not show any interest in getting foreign monitors. (read more)
The build-up towards the upcoming general election has so far had more than its fair share of illegal campaigning and propaganda and its seems that close to no attempt has so far been made by any of the relevant authorities to curb these flagrant violations of the country’s basic election laws.
“Absolutely nothing is being done about this. The police are not doing their job, in fact in some parts of the country the assistants from the Elections Commissioner’s Department and the Police Department are actually helping the culprits. We therefore cannot expect anything from these people,” declared Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) Spokesman, Keerthi Tennekoon.
The most flagrant and visible violations of this country’s election laws are of course the illegal cutouts, posters and banners that now cover a large portion of this country. However the most serious breaches of the laws that are, at least in principle, meant to regulate our election process involve the heavy misuse of state resources by politicians in their personal campaigns.(Read more)
Election monitors say intra-party clashes among candidates fighting for preferential votes have seen a drastic increase compared to earlier elections, election monitors told The Sunday Leader.
According to independent election monitors, more than 80 percent of reported cases of violence are clashes among candidates of the same party. As a result, for the first time in the country’s election history the ‘home and home’ battles have surpassed clashes between candidates from rival parties.
Spokesperson for the Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE), Keerthi Tennakoon however told The Sunday Leader that it was the UPFA that has been worst affected due to the intra party violence.
“The reasons for this unhealthy situation is that the district leaders want to come first in their respective lists while cross-over candidates are also trying to win UPFA votes. Further those competing in a general election for the first time are spending lavishly on their campaigns and providing incentives to attract supporters. These are the reasons for the ‘home and home’ clashes. and the ‘preferential battle’ has only affected the ruling UPFA,” Tennakoon said.
The Sunday Leader’s attempts to contact UPFA General Secretary and Education Minister Susil Premjayantha for a comment on this matter failed. (read more)
