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| PRESS RELEASE CMEV Letter to the Minister of Provincial Council and Local Government on deprivation of voter rights 4th January, 2006 Hon.
Minister Janaka Bandara Tennakoon Dear Sir, You are no doubt aware that in the Presidential Elections of November 2005, a substantial number of complaints were received by CMEV and other polls monitoring groups, as well as by political parties, that a substantial number of persons wishing to cast their vote found that their names did not appear in the Electoral Register and were thus deprived of their right to exercise their franchise. The office of the Commissioner of Elections has informed us that this was due to the fact that many voters had not registered to vote in the enumeration of 2004, and thus their names did not appear in the Electoral Register of 2004 which was the basis for the conduct of the Presidential polls of 2005. We are writing to express our grave concern that if steps are not taken to rectify this situation, the local government polls which are due to be held in March 2006 will also result in the disenfranchisement of a fairly large number of people. In view of the fact that the Elections Department is now in the process of compiling their electoral registers for 2005, we would urge that you consider postponing the local government elections until after May 2006 when the compilation of the Electoral Register for 2005 would have been concluded. Alternately, steps could be taken to provide the Department of Elections with adequate resources to expedite the compilation of the Electoral Register for 2005 in time for it to be utilized at the local government elections. If both the above prove unfeasible, we appeal to you at least enable the speedy compilation of the Electoral Register for 2005 in the Colombo District, from which 90% of the complaints were received, so that this sector of citizens would be ensured of their right to vote at the forthcoming elections. Thank you.
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