ஜனநாயகத்தை உயர்த்தும் ஒரு தொண்டராய், தேர்தல் பாடநெறிகள் தொடர்பான ஒரு கற்கைநெறியினை பெற்றிட

தேர்தல் வன்முறைகளைக் கண்காணிப்பதற்கான நிலையத்தினால்(CMEV), தேர்தல் பாடநெறிகள் மற்றும் ஜனநாயகத்தை வலுப்படுத்தல் தொடர்பான சான்றிதழ் கற்கைநெறியில் இணைந்து கொள்ளவதற்கு ஆர்வமுள்ள இளையோரிடமிருந்து விண்ணப்பங்கள் வரவேற்படுகின்றன.

போட்டித்தெரிவு முறைமையினூடாக தெரிவுசெய்யப்படும் 240 விண்ணப்பதாரிகள் இக் கற்கைநெறியினை இலவசமாகவே கற்றுக்கொள்ளமுடியும்

ஆர்வமுள்ள விண்ணப்பதாரிகள் மேலுள்ள இணைப்பினூடாக(Link) அல்லது விரைவுஎதிர்வினை குறி(QR Code) இனூடாக கூகுள்-படிவத்தை(Google Form) அணுகி அல்லது இரண்டு பக்கங்களுக்கு மேற்படாத சுயவிபரக்கோவையினை ஒரு குறுகிய முகப்புக் கடித்தத்துடன்(short cover letter) கீழே குறிப்பிட்டுள்ள மின்னஞ்சல் முகவரிக்கு புரட்டாதி மாதம் 30ஆந் திகதி, 2022 க்கு முன்னர் அனுப்பி வைக்கும்படி வேண்டப்படுகிறார்கள்.

கூகுள்-படிவத்தை அணுகுவதற்கு: https://forms.gle/br97hfKc2nAudbxw5

இரண்டு பக்கங்களுக்கு மேற்படாத சுயவிபரக்கோவையினை ஒரு குறுகிய முகப்புக் கடித்தத்துடன் cmev@cpalanka.org

Be a Volunteer to Promote Democracy and Earn a Course on Electoral Study

Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) calls for applications from Interested youth to participate in a certificate course on Electoral Studies and Democracy Empowerment.

Following a competitive selection process, the course will be offered free of charge for selected 240 participants.

Interested candidates are requested to scan below QR code or Click the link at the top to access the google form or send a CV not exceeding two pages and a short cover letter to the following email address before September 30, 2022.

Google Form Link: https://forms.gle/br97hfKc2nAudbxw5

Email : cmev@cpalanka.org

Parliamentary Election 2020 – Media coverage on CMEV Election Observation Process

The media is a stakeholder that can never be excluded in any country in which democratic elections are conducted. Regardless of whether the media entity is conventional and mainstream or alternative and new, media behavior indisputably affects the integrity of any election. Continued election observation undertaken by the Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) over several decades in Sri Lanka has strongly proven that the role of the media in the electoral process in the country is decisive.

While there is an ongoing discussion concerning the role of the media in this country, what is of utmost significance is establishing practices where the strong connectivity between the media and elections can be considered together, rather than allowing the media to be considered as a factor detached from the electoral process.

Accordingly, the objective of this small booklet designed and published by CMEV is to provide a glimpse of the nature of reporting carried out by mainstream newspapers during the election period. This reporting carried news and perspectives on the election to voters as the campaign unfolded. Sri Lankan newspapers have wide and increasing circulation across the country and thus have the power of informing and shaping the views of society, across any issue connected to elections. What is collated in this publication is the perspectives of a diverse range of newspapers having such circulation during the election.

පාර්ලිමේන්තු මැතිවරණය 2020 – මැතිවරණ ප්‍රචණ්ඩ ක්‍රියා නිරීක්ෂණ මධ්‍යස්ථානය හා සබැඳි මාධ්‍ය වාර්තාකරණය 

ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රීය  භාවිතයක් සහිත මැතිවරණ ක්‍රමවේදයක් අනුදත් කවර රාජ්‍යයක හෝ මාධ්‍ය යනු කිසිලෙසකත් බැහැර කල නොහැකි පාර්ශ්වකරුවෙකි. සම්ප්‍රදායික හෝ නව මාධ්‍ය වේවා එකී කවර මාධ්‍යයක හෝ හැසිරීම නිසැකව ම මැතිවරණයේ සුපිළිපන්නබව කෙරෙහි බලපෑමක් ඇති කරන්නේය. මෑත කාලීනව ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ද මැතිවරණ ක්‍රියාවලිය තුළ දිස්වන මාධ්‍ය භූමිකාව අතිශය තීරණාත්මක බව මැතිවරණ ප්‍රචණ්ඩ ක්‍රියා නිරීක්ෂණ මධ්‍යස්ථානය (CMEV) අඛණ්ඩව සිදුකරමින් තිබෙන මාධ්‍ය නිරීක්ෂණ හමුවේ තහවුරු වන කරුණකි.

එකී මාධ්‍ය හැසිරීම පිලිබඳව  දැනටමත් මෙරටේ යම් සමාජ කථිකාවක් නිර්මාණය වෙමින් තිබෙන අතර වඩාත් වැදගත් සාධකය වන්නේ මාධ්‍ය තවදුරටත් මැතිවරණ ක්‍රියාවලියෙන් වියුක්ත සාධකයක් ලෙස නොසලකා මැතිවරණ කෙරෙහි එහි පවත්නා අවියෝජනීය සබඳතාව වඩාත් සවිමත් වන ආකාරයේ භාවිතාවක් වෙත අවතීර්ණ වීමයි.  

එහිලා මැ.ප්‍ර.නි. මධ්‍යස්ථානය මඟින් ප්‍රකාශිත මෙම කුඩා ප්‍රමාණයේ ප්‍රකාශනයෙහි අරමුණ වන්නේ සම්ප්‍රදායික එනම් මුද්‍රිත මාධ්‍ය මැතිවරණ සමයේ සිදුකරන ලද වාර්තාකරණයේ හැඩරුව පිලිබඳ මැතිවරණ කෙරෙහි ආශක්ත පිරිස වෙත යම් හැඟීම් මාත්‍රයක්  ලබා දීමයි. ජන්දදායකයන් දැනුම්වත් කිරීම මතු නොව මැතිවරණ හා සබැඳි ඕනෑම ආකාරයක තේමාවක් පිලිබඳ සමාජය අවදි කිරීමෙහිලා පුවත්පත් සතු අසහාය බලයට අභියෝග කිරීම එතරම් පහසු කාර්යයක් නොවේ. මෙකී ප්‍රකාශණය තුළින් ද විද්‍යමාන වන්නේ මෙරටේ ප්‍රචලිත විවිධ මට්ටමේ පුවත්පත් මැතිවරණය කෙරෙහි දක්වා ඇති ආකල්පයෙහි හරස්කඩකි.

Download in here

CMEV Election Observation Report – Parliamentary Election 2020

CMEV is pleased to present its final Election Observation Report for the 2020 Parliamentary Election. The report provides an overview of the election overall; key election features and trends; a summation of CMEV’s election observation activities; trends in election violations it finds notable; and recommendations for all election stakeholders to strengthen and improve the election process in Sri Lanka.

It also provides detail, data and tabulations on election violations observed and recorded by CMEV during the pre-election, Election Day and post-election periods; as well as the communiqués and materials CMEV published throughout the election period.

Download the Report in English here

The need for an independent and prompt investigation into allegations against Gotabaya Rajapaksa being registered to vote and allegedly voting at the 2005 Presidential Election while not a citizen of Sri Lanka

August 20th2019, Colombo, Sri Lanka: The Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) attention has been drawn to the complaint made regarding former Defense Secretary Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa. According to the complaint made by a deputy editor of a Sinhala daily news paper to the Elections Commission of Sri Lanka, Mr. Rajapaksa’s name had been included in the annual electoral list used for the 2005 Presidential Election and he had allegedly cast his vote in the said election, at a time when he was not a Sri Lankan citizen. This allegation becomes even more problematic as he is to contest the forthcoming  Presidential election as the candidate representing the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP).

In terms of Article 89(a) of the Sri Lankan Constitution, a person who is not a Sri Lankan citizen is not entitled to vote at a Presidential Election, General Election or at a referendum. Voting in sucha situation is an offense and is punishable in terms of the Presidential Elections Act No. 15 of 1981.

According to media reports, Mr. Rajapaksa obtained his US citizenship in 2003. He  arrived in Sri Lanka on the 04th of September 2005 on a tourist visa and had campaigned / assisted the election campaign of Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2005. This, it is alleged is an offense in terms of section 45(1) (a) of the Immigrants and Emigrants Act no 20 of 1948.

These allegations if proven, would constitute a serious violation of the Constitution and the laws of Sri Lanka and are indicative of acts that compromise the very basis of the electoral process. Thus it is incumbent on Mr. Rajapaksa who aspires to be the eighth executive President of Sri Lanka, to refute these allegations and co-operate fully with all investigations. Anything less would bring into question Mr. Rajapaksa’s commitment to Sri Lanka’s sovereignty, its Constitution and the rule of law. Furthermore, Mr. Rajapaksa’s silence in the face of these allegations and the allegation that he has failed to renounce his dual citizenship, is extremely problematic. As a potential candidate for the highest elected office in Sri Lanka, it is incumbent upon him to demonstrate a greater commitment to the electoral process.

The enumeration process is a constitutionally mandated responsibility for the Elections Commission. The Commission is expected to maintain accuracy in the process, at all times. Ensuring that only eligible electors and verified information is contained in the electoral list is essential to ensure free and fair elections. Allegations, such as those mentioned above, cast serious doubt on the reliability of the enumeration process and compromise the integrity of the electoral process.

Accordingly, it is incumbent upon the Election Commission to conduct a prompt and impartial investigation into these allegations. CMEV is of the view that the swift and impartial interventions by the Elections Commission and other relevant authorities into allegations of malpractice in the electoral process is essential for maintaining the good faith and confidence of the voters in the electoral process.

 

Download this release in English, Tamil and  Sinhala.

 

Seminar on the Regulation of Campaign Finances and the Declaration of Assets & Liabilities in Elections

Formulating laws and introducing a mechanism for regulating campaign finances is a significant sectors in the current electoral system in Sri Lanka. A series of discussions with the view to accomplishing this endeavour was held recently as an initiative of Centre for Monitoring Election Violence and International Idea in order to create awareness in the stakeholders to the electoral process. Further discussions were held in collaboration with Transparency International as well.

The distinct element of this series was that twelve districts were involved in those deliberations. Subsequently, with the involvement of selected number of participants from the said consultative discussion series along with the institutions and entities who are directly accountable for the process of regulating campaign finances – Election Commission of Sri Lanka, Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption and Inland Revenue Department – another discussion was held in Colombo at the Janaki Hotel.

A large number of participants took part in the discussion which was held on the 27th of June. All the participants unanimously agreed on the need for taking the necessary steps to formulate a legal framework that enables the regulation of campaign finances, prior to the election that is to be held in the year 2020 or any other national level election that is to be held in the future.

Among the dignitaries who addressed the gathering were Nimal G.Punchihewa, Director (Legal), Election Commission of Sri Lanka; Dr. P. Saravanamuttu, Executive Director, CPA and Co- convener of CMEV; Asoka Obeysekara, Executive Director, Transparency International Sri Lanka and Manjula Gajanayake, National Coordinator, CMEV.

Meanwhile, chamber deliberations were also held in tandem. These were attended by Dr Wickramabahu Karunarathne, Leader , Nawa Sama Samaja party; Sirithunga Jayasuriya, Leader, New Socialist Alliance; Gamini Nawarathne, Former Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police (Admin & Election); Nimal G Punchihewa, Director, (Legal) Election Commission of Sri Lanka; Rohana Hettiarachchi, Executive Director of Paffrel; Sankitha Gunarathne, Manager, (RTI) TISL; Manjula Gajanayake, National Coordinator of CMEV. The discussion was moderated by Sashee De Mel, Senior Programme Manager, Transparency International Sri Lanka.