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Migrant workers must produce passports to vote
Sri Lankan expatriate workers who return to the country shortly before Thursday’s polls will have to produce their passports along with the National Identity Card (NIC) before they are allowed to vote, an elections official said. Additional Elections Commissioner M.U. Amaradasa said the passport which would indicate the date and time of arrival in the country would help to ascertain if the individual had arrived after registration was carried out by the relevant Grama Niladhari.
He said this move was aimed at preventing impersonation and other election law violations. Orders to this effect have been sent out by Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya. Mr. Amaradasa said Grama Niladharis had already marked the English letter ‘A’ to indicate abroad on the voting list of persons who had left the country for employment and other purposes and this would be known to the polling officers at the respective booths.
This decision was taken after independent election monitoring groups and the opposition expressed concern that covert moves were under way to impersonate thousands of Sri Lankans now working in West Asia, particularly in Kuwait. The polls monitoring bodies and the opposition requested the Elections Commissioner to make it mandatory for migrants who had returned to show their passports at the polling booth.
Their concerns were exclusively published on the front page of the Sunday Times on December 21, 2014.