History of the Institute of Election Management in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka has a distinguished history of election management. The number of national and local level elections held so far since the country gained universal suffrage is about 74. Until 2015, the Department of Elections was the authority to hold elections in this country. The Election Commission was then established. The said Election Commission is due to end its term on November 13, 2020. Therefore, here is an Infographic compiled by the Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) showing the tenure of the officials responsible for the conduct of the elections from the time of the commencement of the formal elections in the country to the present day.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ මැතිවරණ ඉතිහාසය

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට මැතිවරණ කළමනාකරණය පිළිබඳව ඇත්තේ කීර්තිමත් ඉතිහාසයකි. මෙරටට සර්වජන ජන්ද බලය ලැබීමෙන් අනතුරුව මෙතෙක් පවත්වා ඇති ජාතික හා ප්‍රාදේශීය මට්ටමේ මැතිවරණ සංඛ්‍යාව 74 ක් පමණ වේ. වසර 2015 වන තෙක්ම මෙරටේ මැතිවරණ පැවැත්වීමේ බළධාරීත්වය දරන ලද්දේ මැතිවරණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවයි. අනතුරුව මැතිවරණ කොමිෂන් සභාව ස්ථාපිත කරන ලදි. එකී කොමිසම එළඹෙන නොවැම්බර් මස 13 වැනි දින තම කාල සීමාව අවසන් කිරීමට නියමිතය. එබැවින් මෙහි පළවන්නේ මැතිවරණ ප්‍රචණ්ඩ ක්‍රියා නිරීක්ෂණ මධ්‍යස්ථානය (CMEV) මෙරටේ විධිමත් මැතිවරණ පැවැත්වීම ඇරඹුණු සමයේ පටන් අද දක්වා මැතිවරණ පැවැත්වීමේ වගකීම උරදැරූ නිළධරයන් අදාළ ධූර දැරූ කාල සීමා දක්වමින් සකස්කරන ලද දළ සැකසුමකි.

Download Infographic in here

Judgments on Election Violations

As a part of CMEV’s voter education efforts, this publication provides a brief introduction to a number of judgments at Sri Lankan courts concerning election violations. CMEV hopes that these case summaries will help voters and activists understand the legal background of Parliamentary elections. (In Sinhala).

Download the publication here

Considerations for Holding an Election During the COVID-19 Pandemic

This short guide has been prepared by CMEV to offer election stakeholders and voters a brief overview of some key considerations for holding an election during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. It provides an outline of how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected elections worldwide; special health and safety measures taken for elections already held worldwide; and important factors to note in the SriLankan electoral context. It is hoped that these considerations are taken into account by all election stakeholders when decisions are made regarding the Parliamentary General Election in Sri Lanka.

Download guide in here

CMEV held its Residential Training Session for District/Field monitors

The Centre For Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV), initiated in 1997, has contributed to the electoral reforms through a thorough election observation process.

The institution created a database of election results and information about violence perpetrated in a variety of elections (such as presidential, general and provincial). Once the Election Commission announced the commencement of elections, CMEV re-initiated its election observation mission on the 18th of September. The organisation has mobilised their operations for the upcoming Presidential Election slated for the 16th of November 2019.

CMEV held its residential training session for district/field monitors on 11th of October at the Janaki Hotel, Colombo 5. Almost 100 participants from all 25 administrative districts gained exposure to: Election Law, election observation process, contemporary political climate and the misuse of state resources.

Interactive Discussion on Roles & Responsibilities of Local Government Members in Mullativu District

As one step of the strategic plan introduced by the Election Commission of Sri Lanka, Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) organized one day interactive discussion inviting selected key members of all 4 local government authorities in Mullativu district on 24th January 2019 at District Secretariat of Mullativu.

The roles & responsibilities of members, strategies to increase income revenue options including preparation of new by-laws, and how to contribute for a peaceful and inclusive election process, as people’s representatives were the topics discussed at this event. Manjula Gajanayake, National Coordinator of CMEV was the resource person of this event while Ms. Rajamalligai, Assistant Commissioner of Local Government and Mr. K.Kaantheepan, Assistant Election Commissioner; Mullativu shared their insights related to above topics. Over 50 local government members including chairmen of all 4 councils actively participated in this event.

Empowering Women Activists through Voter Education – Hambantota District Programme

Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) initiated a voter education programme called ‘Provincial Council Elections Voter Education and Outreach Programme’ with the support of USAID-DAI (SDGAP). The main focus is to invoke awareness for women candidates who are willing to contest in the next provincial councils elections to be held island-wide. CMEV is planning to conduct a series of district-level awareness workshops inviting selected prospective candidates across the country.

The sixteenth in this series of workshops was conducted in Hambanthota District at main auditorium of Hambanthota District Secretariat on 31st October 2018. Over 70 women activists including women elected members of Local government were attended in this one-day awareness training. Mr. M. Bandula Harischandra, District Secretariat and the District Returning Officer was delivered the key note speech in this event. Mr. R.S. Wedage, Assistant Election Commissioner of Hambanthota District, Mr. Dharmasiri Nanayakkara, Former Deputy Commissioner of Local Government, Mr. Anura Handagama, Attorney At Law, Hashanie Chitranganie, L.L.B and Mr. Chandrasekaran Manimaran delivered speeches in this event.

Inclusive Elections – Facilitating Voting Rights of Persons with Disabilities (PwDs)

Centre for Monitoring Elections Violence (CMEV) is the one of leading election observation missions in the country which facilitated Inclusive Election process prioritizing voting rights of PwDs. All last three elections that were held since 2015, PwDs have been deployed as election observers by CMEV in addition to its efforts of producing of accessible documents for PwDs.

As a part of continuous engagements towards promoting inclusive elections, CMEV initiated a programme to create a pool of election observers comprising with PwDs. Its third programme was held at the Saranga Hotel in Wellawaya on 30th October   2018 with the participation of over 30 PwDs. Mr. R.S. Wedage, Assistant Commissioner of Elections, Hambanthota District attended representing Election Commission of Sri Lanka and delivered the key note speech in this event. Mr. Dharmasiri Nanayakkara, Former Deputy Commissioner of Local Government, Mr. Anura Hadagama (Attorney-at-Law) and Hashanie Chiranganie L.L.B, Nirmala  Bernard, Attorney – At- Law, and Mr. Chandrasekaran Manimaran were the resource persons.

Empowering Women Activists through Voter Education –Kegalle District Programme

Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) initiated a voter education programme called ‘Provincial Council Elections Voter Education and Outreach Programme’ with the support of USAID-DAI (SDGAP). The main focus is to invoke awareness for women candidates who are willing to contest in the next provincial councils elections to be held island-wide. CMEV is planning to conduct a series of district-level awareness workshops inviting selected prospective candidates across the country.

The fifteenth in this series of workshops was conducted in Kegalle on 24th October 2018. Over 60 women activists including women elected members of Local government were attended in this one-day awareness training. Mr. Dharmasiri Nanayakkara, Former Deputy Commissioner of Local Government, Mr. Anura Handagama, Attorney At Law, and Hashanie Chitranganie L.L.B facilitated this event.

Empowering Women Activists through Voter Education –Colombo District Programme

Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) initiated a voter education programme called ‘Provincial Council Elections Voter Education and Outreach Programme’ with the support of USAID-DAI (SDGAP). The main focus is to invoke awareness for women candidates who are willing to contest in the next provincial councils elections to be held island-wide. CMEV is planning to conduct a series of district-level awareness workshops inviting selected prospective candidates across the country.

The fourteenth in this series of workshops was conducted in Colombo District at main auditorium of SLFP on 23rd October 2018. Over 70 women activists including women elected members of Local government were attended in this one-day awareness training. Prof. Vishaka Sooriyabandara, Senior Lecturer, Department of Political Science, Sri Jayawardenepura University, Mr. Jagath Linayarachchi, Attorney At Law, Mr. Manjula Gajanayake, National Coordinator of CMEV Mr. Dharmasiri Nanayakkara, Former Deputy Commissioner of Local Government, Mr. Anura Handagama, Attorney At Law, addressed the gathering.

Empowering Women Activists through Voter Education –Jaffna District Programme II

Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) initiated a voter education programme called ‘Provincial Council Elections Voter Education and Outreach Programme’ with the support of USAID-DAI (SDGAP). The main focus is to invoke awareness for women candidates who are willing to contest in the next provincial councils elections to be held island-wide. CMEV is planning to conduct a series of district-level awareness workshops inviting selected prospective candidates across the country.

The thirteenth in this series of workshops was conducted in Jaffna District at the main auditorium of District Secretariat of Jaffna on 22nd October 2018. Over 100 women activists including women members of Local government were attended in this one-day awareness training representing both Jaffna and Kilinochchi districts. Prof. Rathnajeevan Hoole, Member of Election Commission of Sri Lanka, Dr. P. Saravanamuttu, Co-convener of CMEV, Mr. M.M. Mohamed, Additional Commissioner (Admin & Legal) of Election Commission and Mr. Manjula Gajanayake, National Coordinator of CMEV spoke at the event.

Empowering Women Activists through Voter Education –Ampara District Programme

Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) initiated a voter education programme called ‘Provincial Council Elections Voter Education and Outreach Programme’ with the support of USAID-DAI (SDGAP). The main focus is to invoke awareness for women candidates who are willing to contest in the next provincial councils elections to be held island-wide. CMEV is planning to conduct a series of district-level awareness workshops inviting selected prospective candidates across the country.

The twelfth in this series of workshops was conducted in Ampara District at the conference hall of Ariyawan Hotel in Ampara   on 21st October 2018. Over 50 women activists including women members of Local government, active supporters of political parties and women CSO leaders attended in this one day awareness training. Mr. D.T.I. Wickramaratne, Assistant Commissioner of Elections (Ampara District) was delivered keynote speech representing Election Commission of Sri Lanka.