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Polls monitors on alert as campaign violence, election law violations begin
More than 100 complaints against election law violations, were this week made to the Elections Dept, as independent monitors commenced operations.
The Elections Dept on Friday said there were 111 complaints, which included misuse of public property, transfers, job appointments, violence and illegal election propaganda work.
On Thursday, in a clash between supporters of the United National Party (UNP) and the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) in Matara, 3 persons have been arrested.
Campaign for Free & Fair Elections (CaFFE) said that they had received 115 complaints of election law violations as of last Friday, with Hambantota recording a high of 12 incidents, Colombo 11, Vavuniya 5 and Trincomalee 3.
CaFFE Executive Director, Keerthi Tennakoon observed that pre-poll violence had increased since the UPFA decision to nominate former President Mahinda Rajapajsa. Violence was recorded in Lunugamwehera and Tangalla, home turf of the Rajapaksas, with 6 attacks recorded in Hambantota alone. Violence was also reported from Badulla and Ratnapura. The first death in pre-poll violence was reported from Ratnapura when a supporter of UNP member Thalatha Athukorala was assaulted and killed on 30 June.
Except in Kurunegala, which was an intra party clash within the UNP, in all the other instances UPFA supporters had attacked UNP supporters.
People’s Action for Free & Fair Election (PAFFREL) said that they had received complaints regarding appointments and transfers, both at provincial and national level. PAFFREL Executive Director, Rohana Hettiarachchi said that in the North Central Province 200 jobs were given to drivers and office assistants while in the Eastern Province too they had received similar complaints. He said that, at the national level, the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Skills Development had handed over new appointments, while the Ministry of Industry & Commerce under Rishard Bathuideen had recruited workers to the Pulmodai Mineral Sands Corporation. Meanwhile, the Network for Election Monitoring – Intellectuals for Human Rights lawyer and spokesman Chaminda Gunasekera said they received complaints that Ports Authority vehicles were to be used to transport posters of Arjuna Ranatunga to the Gampaha district.
Expecting a hike in election violence in the forthcoming weeks, running up to the polls in August, election monitoring bodies are on alert to confront such situations and take necessary action.
With nominations closing tomorrow, PAFFREL and CaFFE are expecting a rise in polls’ law violations, judging by the number of incidents reported to date.
“Our reports indicate six victims of election related violence have been admitted to hospitals to date. Apart from this, we are aware of 27 incidents of election law violations islandwide,” said Mr Hettiarachchi.
He added that, “Once candidates get their numbers their campaigns will start proper, when, as in the past, things will heat up.”
PAFFREL had reported 8 cases of election related violence and 19 cases of election law violations.
Mr. Hettiarachchi said he hoped that there won’t be any misuse of State property this time around, as the Prime Minister had advised senior Cabinet ministers against such activities.
PAFFREL has also engaged in discussions with several religious dignitaries this week, with the intention of involving these dignitaries in a peace committee.
“Political parties also need to be disciplined of their own accord, and the party leaders should impress upon their candidates to avoid any form of violence,” Mr. Hettiarachchi said.
Meanwhile CAFFE has reported a total of 140 incidents of election related violence since elections were called for.
A total of 70 instances of misuse of public property, using State employees for electioneering, appointments and transfers during the election period have been reported from across the country, a senior CaFFE official stated, adding that 55 incidents of illegal propaganda activities have also been reported to date.
“Several UNP supporters were assaulted by UPFA supporters in 11 separate incidents. This is the first time that we (CaFFE) are witnessing a change in the pattern of election related violence,” Mr. Tennakoon said.
He added, “Our previous experiences as an election monitoring body is that, it was always the ruling party that carried out attacks on the opposition. This is the first time, however, we are witnessing a reversal in the ground situation.”
“We have witnessed several scenarios where election related violence increase once the campaigning commences,” Mr. Tennakoon said.