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Media
Communiqué on Election-related Violence
Local Government Elections 2002 |
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Monday
18th March 2002
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On the eve of the commencement of the local government elections on March 20, 2002, the CMEV is pleased to record that the situation of relative calm and non-violence that we noted in our Press Release of March 12 has prevailed to date.
There has been only one election-related murder reported from the Galle Municipal Council area and the total number of major incidents including attempted murder, hurt, grievous hurt, assault and arson is 202 for the period up to March 16, 2002. We have also recorded reports of 248 minor incidents which include threats and damage to property. Of the total number of reported incidents of election-related violence, which is 450, 25 incidents involved the use of firearms.
A noticeable trend in this local government election campaign has been the high numbers of complaints (56) made by members of the UNF against other members of the UNF. This could be attributed to the intense competition for preferential votes within the party lists.
The CMEV has carried out its activities in monitoring these local government elections with the fullest cooperation of the office of the Commissioner of Elections and the Police Department so far. We look forward to engaging in monitoring of the polls on March 20 and thereafter in the same spirit of freedom and cooperation.
We once again reiterate our call to all political parties to take all steps possible to ensure the holding of a free and fair election through the creation of a law-abiding and peaceful environment on election day and in the days following the elections.
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LOCAL
GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS 2002
Key Trends in Campaign Violence (up to March 16, 2002): 1) The campaign period has been Relatively Non-Violent, in comparison with other elections held recently. 2) A total of 450 complaints have been received by CMEV, of which 202 (44.9%) are Major Incidents and 248 (55.1%) are Minor Incidents. Of the Major Incidents, Hurt (43) and Assault (113) are the most significant. 3) Allegations against the UNF number 261 (58%), against the PA 88 (19.6%) and complaints against persons of unknown party affiliation total 82 (18.2%). Thus, supporters of the UNP are the alleged perpetrators in 3 times the number of incidents that supporters of the PA are the alleged perpetrators. 4) The PA has made 135 complaints, the UNF 181, and the JVP 115 to the Police and CMEV. Notable is that 56 or nearly one-third of the UNF's complaints are directed against fellow members of the UNF, indicating that intra-party rivalry and violence is on the increase again. 5) Although the campaign period has been relatively peaceful, significant violations have been recorded from the following areas:
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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 non-partisan organization to monitor the incidence of election related violence.
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Dr.
P. Saravanamuttu |
Sunila
Abeysekera Co-Convenor |
Sundanda
Deshapriya |