Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV)
“තැපැල් ඡන්ද පත්රිකා මුද්රණය සහ පළාත් පාලන මැතිවරණයේ අපේක්ෂා”
මැතිවරණ ප්රචණ්ඩක්රියා නිරීක්ෂණ මධ්යස්ථානයේ (CMEV ) මෙහෙයුම් ප්රධානී D.M. දසනායක මහතා අද දෙරණ BIG Focus වැඩසටහනේදී සිදුකරන ලද අදහස් දැක්වීම.
සම්පූර්ණ වැඩසටහන – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOmZc-OPGa8
” Are we so broke that we cannot hold the Election ? “
Mr D.M.Dassanayaka , Head of operations , CMEV featuring in News First Newsline on 16th of February 2023 , regarding the latest developments on Local Government Elections 2023.
Full Programme – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HckqlDL5ouk&list=PLwBEINflt3JHIlPOHYNO6a16rt3_v323w&index=1
CMEV express its deep concern about the letter issued by Neil Bandara Hapuhinna, the Secretary of the Ministry of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Council and Local Governments instructing District Secretaries to refrain from accepting deposits from candidates expecting to contest in upcoming Local Government Elections on January 10, 2023, as mentioned in the letter, according to a cabinet decision taken on January 09, 2023. According to the Sri Lankan Electoral Legal framework, District Secretaries are appointed as Returning Officers and as the signatory authority for all administrative affairs in respect of upcoming Local Government Elections, by a gazette notification, after the Election Commission issues the notice of elections. The Election Commission appointed District Returning Officers and Assistant Returning Officers by the extraordinary gazette bearing No.2311/26 and dated December 21, 2022. CMEV maintains that undue influence made by the cabinet against District Returning Officers who now serve as heads of the District Election Operations, is a clear threat to the democratic electoral process.
CMEV appreciates the prompt move of the Commissioner General of Election to elaborate on the responsibility of the District Returning Officers following the appointments according to Section 4(1) of the Local Government Elections Ordinance and the gazette the extraordinary gazette bearing No.2311/26. CMEV is also cites Article 104F of the Sri Lankan constitution to emphasize their constitutional duty.
104 F (1) ) “The Commission shall from time to time by notice published in the Gazette appoint by name or by office a person to be a Returning Officer to each electoral district, and may appoint by name or by office one or more persons to assist the Returning Officer in the performance of his duties.”
104 F (2) “Every Officer appointed under paragraph (1) shall in the performance and discharge of such duties and functions as are assigned to him, be subject to such directions as may be issued by the Commission and shall be responsible and answerable to the Commission therefor.”
According to the above provisions in the constitution, the directives issued by the Secretary of the Ministry of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Council and Local Governments are unconstitutional and obeying such directives constitutes a violation of the constitution.[1]
CMEV notes the decision of the Secretary of the Ministry of Public Administration to revoke the letter immediately, following objections from all concerned parties. We urge the government and all the actors responsible for ensuring the democratic governance of the country to refrain from making any efforts that violate the fundamental right of the people to exercise their franchise.
Dr. P. Saravanamuttu – Co – Convenor
Mr. Lasantha De Silva – Co-Convenor,
Mr. Udaya Kalupathirana – Co-Convenor
Download Statement in Sinhala
Download Statement in Tamil
Download Statement in English
May 25, 2022.
CMEV’s Statement on Current Crisis Situation in Sri Lanka
CMEV expresses its deep concern about the rapid deterioration of democrasscy and the rule of law in the country. Following the devastating violence in many parts of the country on May 09, 2022, CMEV has reports that the police investigations and arrests of perpetrators are taking place under political influence. It has been reported to CMEV that some of the suspects were arrested without clear evidence of their connections to the violence. In one case, a 16 years old boy sitting for the O/L examination had been arrested and only granted bail on the afternoon of Monday, May 23, just for being in a photograph of a large crowd gathered in the Eravur area.
CMEV has also observed the reluctance of police to arrest people who initiated violence at the ‘Maina Go Gama’ and ‘Gota Go Gama’ on May 9, 2022, even though video and other evidence is available. It was reported to CMEV that the Attorney General’s Department had obtained an order suspending the foreign travel of Fr. Jeewantha Peiris and many others, who have lodged complainants and been eyewitnesses of the ‘Gota Go Gama’ attack. They all are active supporters of non-partisan peoples’ struggles.
CMEV urges all law implementing agencies to act independently and accountably to ensure law and order and the rule of law in society. CMEV was shocked to learn that 182 OICs out of 184 appointed during the period from 01.01.2011 to 03.11.2021 do not possess the required qualification for the post according to the letter dated 06.12.2021 by the Mr C.D. Wickramaratne, IGP. This is now available online. The political bias of OICs toward ruling party politicians in the area is well-known. CMEV urges the Police Commission and the Ministry of Public Security to rectify the situation immediately. CMEV also reiterates the need for disciplinary action against officers who have allegedly responded illegally against public protests, violating the constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights to peaceful assembly and to the freedom of expression.
CMEV believes that the present political crisis will not be resolved unless the public gets an opportunity to elect a new government. The majority of the current members of parliament have lost the public’s trust. As the President has no constitutional power to dissolve parliament till February 20, 2023, CMEV urges MPs of all parties to respect the values of representative democracy by passing a motion to request the Executive President to dissolve the parliament and move to a general election at the earliest. This would enable constituents to elect representatives who have their trust and confidence, to handle the present crisis.
CMEV was formed in 1997 by the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA), the Free Media Movement (FMM) and the Coalition against Political Violence as an independent and nonpartisan organization to monitor the incidence of election-related violence. Currently, CMEV is made up of CPA, FMM and INFORM Human Rights Documentation Centre.
Dr. P. Saravanamuttu – Co – Convenor
Mr. Lasantha De Silva – Co-Convenor,
Mr. Udaya Kalupathirana – Co-Convenor
_________________________________________________________________
Download Statement in Sinhala
Download Statement in Tamil
One of the focus areas of which the Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) has been vocal in parallel with the electoral reform process in Sri Lanka since several decades ago, is the need to regulate unlimited election campaign expenditure in Sri Lanka and to introduce an appropriate legislative mechanism. It is gratifying to note that there has been a strong social focus on this election-related theme at the time, and the Centre for Election Violence Monitoring has also spearheaded various initiatives aimed at continuing a broader social dialogue on the subject matter.
As part of the series of online programs being organized on the above topic, another such program being arranged to be conducted in collaboration with the ‘Next Generation’. We look forward to discussing the challenges facing young political activists in this country in the face of unregulated and unlimited election campaign finances, and we hope that all citizens who aspire to a Level Playing Field in the electoral process will join us in this discussion.
Please watch full program via the following link:
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.
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Incidents on Election Day up to 10 a.m.
Voting commenced at 7 a.m on Wednesday, August 5, 2020 for the Parliamentary General Election. CMEV is deploying 1,200 observers at polling centres, 175+ counting observers at counting centres, 90 field monitors and a team of 50 reporting, operations and mobile team operators at its Colombo HQ. Polling stations are operating under strict COVID-19 health precautions with health officials also being deployed.
A total of 70 incidents of election-related violations have been reported thus far, with illegal campaigning and illegal posers being the most prevalent. The scattering of chits bearing party symbols and candidate preference numbers is by far the most common election violation committed by candidates from a range of political parties all across the country
The following incidents are specific incidents received and confirmed by CMEV’s field monitors stationed at polling stations across the country:
Further information on the types, perpetrating parties and locations of the incidents CMEV has recorded is detailed in the charts below:
The seventh update of election violations CMEV has observed and recorded covers the period until August 2.
CMEV එය විසින් නිරීක්ෂණය සහ වාර්තා කරන ලද මැතිවරණ නීති උල්ලංඝණය කිරීම් හා ප්රචණ්ඩ ක්රියා පිළිබඳ හත්වන සිද්ධි වාර්තාකරණය අගෝස්තු 2 වන තෙක් කාලය ආවරණය කරයි.
சீ.எம்.இ.வி யின் 7வது தேர்தல் சட்ட மீறல்கள் மற்றும் வன்முறைகள் சம்பந்தமான கண்காணிப்பு அறிக்கை, ஆகஸ்ட் மாதம் 2ம் திகதி வரையிலாகும்.
The sixth update of election violations CMEV has observed and recorded covers the period until August 1.
CMEV එය විසින් නිරීක්ෂණය සහ වාර්තා කරන ලද මැතිවරණ නීති උල්ලංඝණය කිරීම් හා ප්රචණ්ඩ ක්රියා පිළිබඳ හයවන සිද්ධි වාර්තාකරණය අගෝස්තු 1 වන තෙක් කාලය ආවරණය කරයි.
சீ.எம்.இ.வி யின் 6வது தேர்தல் சட்ட மீறல்கள் மற்றும் வன்முறைகள் சம்பந்தமான கண்காணிப்பு அறிக்கை, ஆகஸ்ட் மாதம் 1ம் திகதி வரையிலாகும்.
An extraordinary gazette notification containing the Code of Conduct for contesting political parties, independent groups and candidates of the elections has been published.
The Election Commission said the relevant Code of Conduct is issued in terms of Section 8(8) of the Parliamentary Elections Act, No. 1 of 1981 as amended by the Parliamentary Elections (Amendment) Act, No. 58 of 2009.
Download Code of Conduct for Contesting Political Parties/Independent Groups And Candidates of the Elections in Sinhala / Tamil / English
Download Media Guidelines in Sinhala / Tamil / English
ANFREL and six domestic election observation groups, including ANFREL members PAFFREL and CMEV, release today the “COVID-19 Code of Conduct for Election Observers” ahead of the 2020 Sri Lankan parliamentary elections.
This document is a joint initiative from organizations both domestic and international intending to observe the parliamentary elections of Sri Lanka. The polls were initially scheduled for 25 April 2020 but have been postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic that is affecting the country. While the date at which the elections could be held remains uncertain, pending a ruling from the Supreme Court on the matter, election monitoring organizations have decided to plan ahead and draft guidelines so that election observation may take place in the most responsible manner.
Download Statement in Sinhala
Download Statement in Tamil
Download Statement in English
This document first provides an overview of some of the interventions made by CMEV in this period. It also details media coverage of CMEV’s activities and interventions. Finally, the document provides a snapshot of activity on CMEV’s official website and Facebook pages, as indicators of CMEV’s online operations during this period.
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Unlimited and Unregulated nature of election campaign finances is a serious issue in Sri Lanka. Policy makers of this country should immediately act in formulating a Campaign Finance Legislation as part of the overall electoral reform process of Sri Lanka. This Article analyzes the findings of the Election Campaign Cost Monitoring Initiative of the CMEV on the Presidential Election 2019.
Orginal Article Click this link
Letter to Election Commission
Dear Commission,
ARBITRARY AND ILLEGAL TAMPERING WITH REGISTERED VOTER LISTS 2019
It has been brought to our notice, by reliable persons who have been unfairly penalized, that certain Grama Niladharis, especially in the Colombo District, have arbitrarily removed the names of long-standing residents from their respective voter lists. Since these householders have duly completed the voter registration forms for 2018 accurately and in time, and since they have been on the voter lists at the same residential address for many years and have voted in all of the elections during the past decade and more, they were shocked and dismayed to learn that their names had been deleted from the relevant registered voter list for the residence they have occupied uninterrupted for many years. On inquiry they were informed that there is nothing that can be done at this stage, even though they were not provided with any reasons for the deletion of their names. This unacceptable situation is further exacerbated by the fact that the online voter list on your official website is not currently functioning.
Individual voters have lodged complaints with the Elections Commission, and we request you to make a formal public response to the allegations that they have made. Specifically, it is incumbent on you to publicly clarify the following in order to mitigate the lack of credibility in the system that this has generated, especially among older voters who are unable to visit the Elections Secretariat to verify if their names are still on the list:
Given the urgency of the situation and the need for immediate redress to ensure that the affected persons are not deprived of their franchise, we urge you to inform the general public as well by way of extensive publicity in all the appropriate channels.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Co-Conveners CMEV
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Presidential Election 2019 Media Communiqué, 29th October 2019
Colombo, Sri Lanka
In the 40 days since the announcement of the 2019 Presidential Election, the Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) has recorded 534 verified incidents of election law violations. The following trends have been particularly observable recently:
Using minors for political promotions
The election period has seen the continued use of minors in various ways to promote the presidential candidates. The National Child Protection Authority has already made it clear that it is wrong to use minors for political promotion.
In the following cases and instances, the Sri Lanka Podu Jana Peramuna (SLPP) and the New Democracy Front (NDF) have directly violated these legal provisions:
CMEV has already made a written complaint to the National Child Protection Authority regarding these matters.
Using Government School Premises for Election Campaigns
CMEV was informed that the SLPP attempted to use the Galenbindunu Wewa primary school ground for a public rally with the direct intervention of the North Central Province Governor. This is despite there being numerous available places for holding public rallies in the Anuradhapura Gallenbindunu Wewa town.
The
use of government school premises for campaign purposes and the intervention of
high level public officials sets entirely the wrong precedent.
Not displaying election candidate and symbol during campaigning
The SLPP reportedly did not display its candidate and its ballot symbol in the pandol (thoarana) which was built in Minuwangoda town along the road, but photographs of the party leader and other regional organisers have been displayed. According to election law, it is illegal to display the pictures of the candidate and symbol.
Engaging in election campaigns that disturbed to religious and national reconciliation
During the election period, a number of campaign activities, especially by the Podu Jana Eksath Peramuna, demonstrate extremist national and religious views in various forms. For example, a female councilor in Kandy was arrested while spreading leaflets with extremist opinions. That leaflet was a violation of section 85 of the Presidential Election Act, No. 15 of 1981 meaning that the leaflet did not display the publisher and printer.
Thank you
……………………………
Manjula Gajanyake,
National Co-ordinator,
CMEV
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