43 Violations of Election Law in 12 Hours

(February 15, Colombo, Sri Lnaka Guardian) Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) has been reported with 43 incidents violating the election laws on February 14, 2009 observed from 7 am till 7 pm. Highest number of violations is reported from Kandy District in Central Province and Kurunegala District in North Western Province. Nawalapitiya and Dambulla in Kandy District have been identified as key electorates where strategic use of violence was reported to have taken place. Fighting between the groups representing the same political party and conducting of election campaign on election-day was common incident in Kurunegala District.

Even though this election is claimed to be free and fair, a considerable percentage of voters were prevented from using their civic right due to the absence of national identity card or any other valid identification document. According to CaFFE observers there are 2,512 persons in Matale, 3,200 persons in Puttlam, 3,400 in Nuwara Eliya, and 2,950 in Kurunegala were prevented from voting due to this reason.

Use of national identity card and in the absence of it, other valid identification documents were considered to minimize the election law violations which has become a key reason for a majourity of voters to lose their democratic right to vote in this election. With Provincial Council elections in North western and Central Provinces coming to an end, it is also reported that United National Party campaign office in Nawalapitya has been set on fire which is the only post-election violence reported so far.

-Sri Lanka Guardian