June 01st is considered ‘Voter’s Day’ in Sri Lanka. There were several awareness programs and gatherings to celebrate this special day during the first week of this month. CMEV also celebrated it in partnership with the Election Commission, and was able to print over 30,000 stickers in trilingual to promote voter registration.

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.

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 31^st 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.

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 30^th 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.

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 24^th 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.

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 23^rd 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.

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 22^nd 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.

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 21^st 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.