Parliamentary General Election 2015: Interim Report

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Profile of Major Incidents

At the end of the campaign on August 14^th, 2015, CMEV received 810 complaints of which 143 were classified as Major.  Of the latter category, Murder was recorded at 04, Hurt at 05, Grievous Hurt at 03, Assaults at 46, Threat and Intimidation at 08, Misuse of State Resources at 47, Robbery at 01, Arson at 16, Abduction at 02, Damage to Property at 10 and an incident of Bribery. In 12 incidents the use of firearms was recorded. Of the latter, the UNP was identified as the alleged perpetrator in 03 incidents, the SLMC in 01 and in the rest, the alleged perpetrator has not been identified.

Of the Major Incidents, 07 occurred in the Batticaloa Polling Division, 05 in Mannar, 05 in Jaffna and 05 in Minuwangoda.  In the incidents where the perpetrator has been identified, the UPFA has been named in 49 incidents, the UNP in 38, ITAK in 08, EPDP in 06, the SLMC in 08 and the AITC in 01.

Trends

Four (04) Murders have marred the election campaign, which has otherwise recorded incidents of violence of a relatively low scale and intensity in comparison to the past.  As shown in the graph below the percentage proportion of Major Incidents of the total of those reported throughout the campaign is 17% as opposed to 45%, 56% and 54% in the 2010 Presidential and General Election campaigns and the 2015 Presidential Election campaign, respectively.

CMEV monitors have reported on the enabling political environment for campaigning and political discussion and about the space and freedom for action without interference on the part of the Election Commissioner and the Police. Both have acted to ensure adherence to the election laws, though there have been complaints about the lack of clarity and consistency with regard to implementation and in some cases the ad hoc nature of such.  CMEV notes too that the strict adherence to existing election laws in respect of posters, could in practice work to the disadvantage of first time candidates and those with less resources to resort to advertisements on the electronic media.  According to the Police, 790 suspects have been arrested with regard to election violence and violations of election laws. CMEV has details of 382 arrests as follows:

District	No. of Arrested Persons	Police Division	No. of Arrested Persons
Colombo	40	Galle	33
Kaluthara	32	Matara	20
Gampaha	26	Hambantota	10
Mahanuwara	05	Monaragala	01
Matale	05	Badulla	31
Nuwaraeliya	08	Digamadulla	30
Ratnapura	18	Batticaloa	03
Kegalle	19	Trincomalee	08
Anuradapura	11	Jaffna	05
Polonnaruwa	20	Vanni	02
Kurunegala	21	Puttalam	34

*Kurunegala Police Division did not revealed information related to arrests