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Wayamba polling peaceful this time
By Marisa de Silva, Vidushi Seneviratne and Hiran Priyankara
In stark contrast to previous elections, including the infamous Wayamba Provincial Council election where rigging and stuffing of ballot boxes were rampant, Thursday’s polling in the Puttalam District was carried out in a relatively calm and peaceful manner.

Hours before polling started Police launched a surprise raid in Puttalam looking for ‘outsiders’ who may have infiltrated the area to take part in election related malpractices including rigging. The aim was to set the stage for a peaceful election.

The area known for its violence, this year recorded a low number of incidents compared to the previous Presidential elections. Polling watchdog Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) reported 57 acts of election related violence in these areas as opposed to the 189 reported in 1999.
The Puttalam District had only 39 incidents this year as opposed to the 79 election related malpractices that took place in the previous election.

The Anuradhapura District too saw a significant reduction in polls related violence, down from 110 incidents in 1999 to only 18 this year.
The voter turnout in Puttalam’s 425 polling centres was 71.68% with Anuradhapura recording a voter percentage of 78.98% distributed over its 434 stations. Voters in the region said that polling had been carried out in a free and fair manner, and that polling centres were well organized and manned by competent officials.

The predominantly Muslim populace from the Jaffna and Wanni districts living in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in the Puttalam area formed a large percentage of the total voter turnout and displayed a lot of enthusiasm in exercising their franchise. The polling seemed to be quite orderly and peaceful with two officials from People's Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) observing the activity at each polling station.
Puttalam District Secretary H.M Herath told The Sunday Times said that he had not received any complaints of election related violence on the day of polls. “However, in Chilaw two persons were arrested for election violations,” he said.

Mr. Herath said two European Union election monitors – Munik Nobs from Switzerland and Jan Schunuck from Denmark had been assigned to monitor activities in the polling stations in his district. The Federal Secretary of the Election Commission of Pakistan, Kunwar Muhammad Dilshad was also monitoring elections in the area. Mr. Dilshad was representing the Asian Election Authority.

Mr. Herath said special provision had been made to move a polling centre from Wanathawilluwa to Kalpitiya so that that residents of Pookkulama, an island off Puttalam, would have easier access to a polling booth. Under the earlier arrangement residents of this island had not turned up to vote at previous elections as the journey was by boat and was too expensive for many of them. Since they make a regular trip to Kalpitiya for routine transactions, the District Secretary felt that having a polling booth there would attract a larger voter turnout.

Mr. Herath also praised the Elections Secretariat on its efforts to educate the people on how to vote. “Mr. Dayananda Dissanayake’s office carried out a coordinated media campaign that raised public awareness regarding voting practice and procedure,” he said.

Mr. Herath also said that 2500 Police officers were deployed in the district, with 105 of them allocated to mobile units. In addition, there were four emergency Army and Police teams on call during the polling period, in the event of major election violence, he said

Speaking to The Sunday Times on the day of the polls, Puttalam Police SP Roshan Fernando said two polling agents had lodged a complaint that they were abducted by associates of Puttalam District UNP Parliamentarian Range Bandara while they were on their way for election duty.

“The entry states that the agents were picked up in Karuwelagaswewa and first verbally abused by the MP’s brother before being accosted by the MP himself,” said SP Fernando. SP Fernando said that the two polling agents had been dropped off after being intimidated.

“Although they were not harmed physically, this was a clear instance of election malpractice,” he said. In the run up to the polls the Puttalam Police also seized 29 unregistered motor cycles they feared could have been used in incidents of election related intimidation.

SP Fernando said his station was cracking down hard on suspected motor cycle gangs which are a known source of election related violence in the Wayamba area.

The Puttalam Police also arrested a few people who were breaking the 48-hour ban on pre-election campaigning by distributing propaganda material. Another person was arrested for being in possession of firearms. Both SP Fernando and Chilaw SSP Gamini Amarakoon said they both had taken every measure to ensure maximum security in their areas of jurisdiction. They said they would continue to enforce this level of security in the post election period as well.
In Anuradhapura too, polling took place in relative peace, except for a few isolated incidents.

The District Secretary’s Office reported no major acts of violence or intimidation. District Secretary U.D. Yapa said the Elections Secretariat had done well to organize an efficient flow of ballot boxes from polling station to the counting centre. After polling closed and the ballot boxes were sealed, officials counted the remaining ballot papers to ensure there had been no tampering.

Thereafter, these additional ballot papers were packaged and transported together with the ballot boxes to the central counting centre.
The vehicles transporting ballot boxes were also given a specific course to take and monitored en route to make sure that the boxes were not rigged between polling station and counting centre.

The Anuradhapura District had election monitors from CMEV, PAFFREL, AEA and the European Union.Mr. Yapa said there had been one major incident on the day before the polls, in which several people were injured in a grenade attack in the Rajangana area.Although there had been 17 other minor complaints in the run up to Thursday’s polls, the District Secretary said polling in his district had been fairly calm.

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