News
PAFFREL reports more than 100 violations of election laws
The People’s Action Front for Free and Fair Election (PAFFREL) said yesterday 101 election law violations and incidents of violence had been reported up to 3 p.m. yesterday.
Of these 42 cases were confirmed. The complaints included 32 cases of illegal election propaganda, 23 cases of intimidating voters and 5 cases of attempts at impersonation, PAFFREL said. In addition 25 incidents of attempting to influence the voters had been received.
Major incidents included two incidents of assault in Avissawela and Welimada. Three people injured in these incidents had been hospitalised.
Earlier, in a major shooting incident in Anuradhapura gunmen opened fire on a convoy of buses carrying Muslim voters who were traveling from Puttalam to Mannar for voting. The attackers had burnt tires, pelted stones and set up makeshift road blocks to ambush this convoy of 100 vehicles.
Other incidents reported were transporting people for voting in several places including Wellawaya, Puttalam and Dambulla, and pressurising people to vote for the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP).
PAFFREL said three people have been arrested for photographing the ballot papers in Nawalapitiya and Puttalam.
Meanwhile the Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) said it had received 142 reports of election law violations and incidents of violence. Of these Matara was leading with 15 incidents. Also 15 incidents of threatening voters and two cases of impersonation were reported. In another incident the police found 58 fake ballot papers in a vehicle in Kurunegala.
Meanwhile, the European Union Election Observation Mission who are here on the invitation of the Election Commission refused to comment on the overall situation on election day.
Its 30 members have been deployed to the nine provinces to carry out a comprehensive election assessment focusing on the legal framework, electoral administration, voter registration, campaigning, conduct of the media, voting, counting and tallying and the transmission of results.
The mission’s Media Officer Paul Anderson said the mission would give a briefing tomorrow on it assessment of the election.
The EU unit’s Chief Observer Marisa Matias said that theur team comprised 80 observers including 30 long term and 30 short term officers. The unit also included five members of the European Parliament.
“The EU MPs and observers have been feeding data and information back to our headquarters, giving us a full picture of the execution of the technical aspects of the polling. Later our teams will also go to the counting centres to observe that part of the process until it is completed. Because this is all part of an on-going process, and because we are bound by our commitment to remain strictly impartial and non-interfering in all stages of the election, we can’t speak about any aspect of our assessment at this stage.” Ms Matias said.