News
100 polls-related complaints a day; 400 Facebook messages identified as election violations
An average of 100 complaints of election law violations and violence is being received daily by the National elections Commission (NEC) statistics reveal.
The NEC reported that since nominations were handed out on October 7 a total of 3319 incidents of violence and violations have been received as of Friday (November 8).
This includes 3189 election law violations and 25 incidence of violence connected with the elections.
The election monitoring body the People’ Action for Free and Fair Election (PAFFREl) said it had received 480 complaints of which 449 were violating the election law and the general law. Also there were 36 incidents of violence with 21 persons being hospitalised.
Meanwhile the Commission established to monitor the social media by the election monitoring bodies, PAFFREL and the Centre for Monitoring election Violence (CMEV), has so far identified 400 Facebook messages as violations that hamper the conduct of a free and fair election. Of these messages, 117 were identified as election law violations and 129 as fake news.
Also 84 messages of hate speeches, 17 instances of harassment and six human rights violations cases have been reported.
The violations included loading misinformation and doctored photographs to mislead people. Also there were several hate speech messages against the minority communities, especially the Muslims, PAFFREL Executive Director, Rohana Hettiarachchi said.