With the proposed 18^th amendment to the constitution the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government has inflicted a severe blow to the electoral process of Sri Lanka. Since the new amendment gives the executive President the power to appoint members to the ‘independent’ commissions, including the Election Commission, CaFFE fears that the future elections will be far from free and fair.

 The reforms replace the present 10 member Constitutional Council (CC) with a five-member committee comprising the Speaker, the Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition as ex officio (by right of office ) members. Unlike the existing CC which appoints members to the seven independent commissions the new five member committee will only be consulted by the president who has the power to appoint members to the independent commissions. (Read More)

 

The revision of the voter registries throughout the country commenced on June 1^st 2010 by the Department of Elections. Since its been a long time since a comprehensive revision is being conducted in the north CaFFE visited all five districts of the Northern Province, Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Vavuniya, Mulativu and Mannar to monitor how this process is unfolding. This report is based on the observations and investigations CaFFE made during the fact finding missions and the data survey. (Read More)