The Centre for Monitoring Election Violence monitored the incidence of election related violence throughout the Presidential Election campaign commencing with the close of nominations on 07 October 2005 and on Election Day, 17 November 2005. CMEV recorded a cumulative total of 484 incidents during the campaign and 297 incidents on Election Day.

During the campaign, of a total number of 484 incidents, the number of incidents classified as Major are 181. Of the Major Incidents 24 were in the Digamadulla District, 19 in the Gampaha District and 17 in the Puttalam District. The highest number of complaints according to party affiliation were made by the UNP (200) and the UPFA (151). The UPFA was identified as the alleged perpetrator in 90 of the Major Incidents and the UNP in 60.

The most serious incidents of election related violence were 05 Murders, of which 03 occurred in the Digamadulla District, and 01 each in the Trincomalee and Colombo Districts respectively. One of these murders was of the EPDP organizer in Pottuvil , another of an EPDP organizer in Trincomalee and a third in Colombo of a senior member of the EPDP. The remaining two murders occurred in Kalmunai, one of which was of a Muslim civilian and the other of a Sinhala Home Guard. Though all these murders may not be directly related to the election, occurring nevertheless within the context of one, they have a bearing on it. Whilst the party affiliation of the perpetrators has not been identified in any of the murders, those of the EPDP organizers and a member are part of the violence characterizing the relationship between the LTTE and groups opposed to it, in the prevailing situation in the North and East.

Of the 297 incidents reported to CMEV on Election Day, 43 were classified as Major and 81 as Minor Incidents. An additional 173 incidents were classified as specific offences under the election law. The highest number of Major incidents (30) involved Threat and Intimidation and the highest number of specific election law offences (61) related to small-scale voter impersonation. The areas worst affected by violence and intimidation including 02 murders were in the North and East and they are dealt with in a separate section. Outside the North and East, the highest number of Incidents ( i.e. those classified as Major, Minor as well as specific election law offences ) were recorded in the Hambantota District (41), Kurunegala District (28), Anuradhapura District (22), Colombo District (200, Puttalam District (20) and the Matara District (15). The highest number of complaints by party affiliation were made by the UNP (30). The UPFA made 14 complaints. The UPFA was identified as the alleged perpetrator in 83 incidents and the UNP in 52. The party affiliation of the perpetrator has not been identified in 105 incidents.

During the campaign CMEV had 161 monitors in the field and on Election Day 4,592 monitors including 80 monitors in 40 Mobile Teams of 02 monitors each. In addition, 17 International Observers were deployed in the North and East. On Election Day, CMEV monitored 6,237 Polling Stations or 59.5 % of the total number of 10,478 Polling Stations. Of these CMEV has reports of incidents in 264 or 2.51% of the total number of Polling Stations.

Throughout the campaign CMEV received the support and cooperation of the Elections Commissioner and his officials and the Police. However, in certain instances in the North and East difficulties were encountered with obtaining information from the Police and in certain areas on Election Day, election officials stated that they had not received notification of the names of CMEV stationary monitors in Polling Stations.

In the Beliatta Polling Division, a CMEV monitor was assaulted by a large group of UPFA supporters and his digital camera was forcibly taken away. The monitor was assaulted for having taken photographs of vehicles displaying campaign material of Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa. A statement has been lodged with the Beliatta Police (EIB154/126). The IGP has been informed accordingly and requested to take prompt action.

CMEV expresses its thanks and appreciation for the financial support given to it by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), USAID through the National Democratic Institute (NDI), NORAD, the Japanese Government and the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA). Their contributions amounted to Rs 30 million.

Media

As in previous election campaigns, the role of the media has to be highlighted. According to media monitoring reports of a number of organizations including the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA), biased and partial media coverage was a feature of this election as well. Both the state controlled and private media displayed bias - the latter in favour of the UNP candidate and the former in favour of the Prime Minister Mr Rajapaksa.

Special mention needs to be made of the coverage by the state controlled electronic media organs. Under the provisions of the 17th Amendment to the Constitution the Election Commissioner is empowered to appoint a Competent Authority to oversee the programming of the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC) and the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC). He can also issue guidelines in respect of the private media and the state controlled media agencies not specified under the 17th Amendment. As in the last General Election of April 2004, the Commissioner appointed a Competent Authority at the end of the campaign, in respect of the SLRC and the SLBC.

CMEV is of the opinion that the appointment of the Competent Authority was made too late despite the urgings of media monitoring institutions, to reverse the impact of the blatantly biased coverage accorded to the Prime Minister’s campaign in the state controlled media. We also urge that the law be extended to cover all state electronic media organs and that the Commissioner or the Commission to be appointed, is empowered to monitor the implementation of guidelines given to all media in the course of an election campaign.

Voter Registration

CMEV has received over 150 complaints of effective disenfranchisement from citizens in the Colombo District. These complaints range from those who claim to have handed in their voter registration forms and yet have had their names removed from the voter register to those who claim to have received polling cards only to find that their names were nevertheless not in the voter register. CMEV will be placing an advertisement in the newspapers calling for information from people so affected in order that further action can be taken.

The voting rights of conflict and tsunami affected Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) remains a matter of concern to CMEV. CMEV will also continue to lobby for the enfranchisement of migrant workers.

North and East

The conduct of the Presidential poll in the North and East once again led to the creation of ‘cluster’ polling stations for registered voters living in areas under LTTE control. According to the electoral registers of 2004, there are 952,324 registered voters in the Northern Province (Jaffna and Vanni) and 953,936 in the Eastern Province (Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Digamadulla). 1,98,286 persons live in areas under LTTE control in the North, while 91,487 persons live in areas under LTTE control in the East. These figures, for the North in particular, have been contested due to the absence of any verification in some areas for the past ten years or more.

There were 308 cluster polling stations set up in the Northern Province; in Jaffna District, polling stations were clustered for those living in both LTTE-controlled areas as well as government-controlled areas. In the Eastern Province, there were 105 cluster polling stations set up for those living in areas under LTTE control.

The issue of cluster polling stations was the subject of a Supreme Court interim order issued on November 9 in response to petitions filed by two Presidential candidates calling on the Commissioner of Elections to extend the distance separating the polling stations from the Sri Lanka army line of control by a further 500 meters, granting the Senior Presiding Officer powers to seek clarification of voter identity and to order preventive detention of persons suspected of impersonation. CMEV intervened in this case to ensure that there was no effective disenfranchisement of voters in the areas under LTTE control.

Elections in the North and East were further complicated because of the confusion created by the statements of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and the LTTE on November 10, declaring that the Tamil people had no reason to be concerned with the elections but that there would be no restrictions placed on those who decided to vote.

However, incidents of violence and intimidation in Jaffna and throughout the Eastern Province in the days that followed created an atmosphere that was not conducive to the carrying out of a free and fair election. The LTTE promise not to disrupt the elections notwithstanding, the reports submitted by CMEV monitors clearly indicates the contrary. In Jaffna, posters and leaflets calling for a boycott were widely disseminated. There were some reports of postmen having polling cards snatched from them, as well as of intimidation of those who had volunteered to be EPDP polling agents. On the 16th, grenades were flung at several offices of the EPDP in Jaffna. On election day, CMEV monitors reported an almost complete shut down of the District, and intimidating surveillance of polling stations by groups of youth. As a result, the total votes polled in the Jaffna District was 1.21%, and 34.03% in the Vanni District.

Among the most serious incidents reported from the East were: the killing of EPDP Trincomalee organizer Poologarajan on November 6; the killing of EPDP Pottuvil organizer Sahabdeen on November 10; at least 5 grenade attacks on polling stations in Batticaloa on the night of the 16th; at least 4 grenade attacks on polling stations in Batticaloa on the 17th during polling hours; intimidation of ferry operators at lagoon crossing points from LTTE-controlled areas and burning of tyres on main access roads within LTTE-controlled areas.

CMEV strongly believes that the tension created in the North and East due to acts of intimidation and violence witnessed and documented by its monitors in these areas acted to prevent large numbers of voters from going to the polls. Had there been a free and fair election held in the North and East, CMEV feels that the outcome of the Presidential polls could have been different. In a letter to Elections Commissioner on November 18, CMEV called for a re-poll of the North and East based on the above.

Final comment
The situation in the North and East apart, on the basis of information gathered from our monitors, CMEV believes that the Presidential elections of 2005 have been the least marred by acts of violence and intimidation. However, reports of extensive intimidation of voters in Beliatta, Weligama and Hanguranketha, for example, demonstrate that the use of violence as a political strategy has not been eradicated from our political culture.

CMEV believes that the reduction in levels of election-related violence is an affirmation of the work of all civil society groups engaged in monitoring the democratic process in Sri Lanka and also reflects a change in attitude of all Sri Lankan political parties in terms of the use of violence during elections. We also acknowledge the work of the Commissioner of Elections and the Police in this respect. The challenge of conducting a truly free and fair election throughout Sri Lanka, nevertheless remains.

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 organisation to monitor the incidence of election related violence.

The following is a letter sent to Mr. Dayananda Dissanayake, The Commissioner of Elections

URGENT

Mr. Dayananda Dissanayake,
The Commissioner of Elections,
Colombo.

Dear Mr. Dissanayake,

The Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV), having fielded teams of mobile election monitors as well as monitors in many of the polling stations throughout the north and east on election day November 17 2005 strongly feels that the environment that prevailed during the election campaign and on Election Day in the north and east were not conducive to the conduct of a free and fair election.

There are two separate situations that we would like to address in this regard.

In the North, the major issue was that of intimidation of voters through diverse means including the distribution of posters and leaflets that aggressively discouraged people from going to the polls. This led to the total turn out of the polls in the Jaffna District, for example, being as low as 1.5% of the total number of registered voters.

In the East, too, persons from areas under LTTE control were denied access to the transport – buses and ferries – that had been made available by the government in order to enable them to travel to the cluster polling stations set up in government-controlled areas.

However, in addition, there were acts of violence that took place on the night prior to elections sand throughout election day that terrorized and intimidated people from going to the polls.

Among the most serious incidents are:

- a grenade thrown at the TRO office on Bar Road, Batticaloa at 6.30 a.m. on the 16th;
- a Muslim civilian shot and injured at Pandirippu, Kalmunai at about 7 p.m. on the 16th;
- Alhaj Ahmed Lebbe of Kalmunai shot and killed in Kalmunai town on the night of the 16th;
- Albert Gunaratnam of Trincomalee shot and injured in Trincomalee on the night of the 16th;
- a grenade thrown at the Iruthayapuram polling station in Batticaloa at 8.30 p.m. on the night of the 16th; 3 soldiers injured;
- a grenade thrown at Kulaiwadikolani polling station in Batticaloa at 8.30 p.m. on the night of the 16th; one soldier and one policeman injured;
- a grenade thrown at Palaimeendmadu polling station in Batticaloa at 3.30 a.m. on the 17th;
- attacks on 3 EPDP offices in Jaffna – in Chavakachcheri, Mallakam and Manipay – on the 16th;
- a grenade thrown at the main counting center in Batticaloa town at the Hindu College premises on the 17th;
- a grenade thrown at Puthunagar Police post on the night of the 16th;
- a grenade thrown at the Vigneswara Vidyalaya polling station on the night of the 16th;
- a grenade thrown at the Santhiveli Vinayagar School in Batticaloa at about 9.30 on the night of the 16th;
- a grenade thrown at the Chenkalady Maha Vidyala polling station (a cluster polling station) on the 17th; 6 persons were injured, including 2 policemen and a 14 year old boy;
- a grenade attack on the Kaluthavalai Maha Vidyalaya polling station at 8 a.m. on the 17th;
- A Sub-Inspector of Police and his driver were assaulted by a crowd of alleged UNP supporters when he detained a person suspected of impersonation in Kattankudy
- a grenade thrown at Hindu Maha Vidyalaya polling station, Valaichchenai, in the morning of the 17th.
a grenade thrown at Hindu Maha Vidyalaya polling station, Valaichchenai, in the afternoon of the 17th.

In light of the above incidents, CMEV calls on you to use the powers vested in you as Commission of Elections to call for a re-poll of the North and East in order to ensure that a truly free and fair election of the chief executive of Sri Lanka has taken place.

We would like to refer to Section 103(2) of the 17th Amendment to the Constitution that mandates the Commissioner to ensure the conduct of a free and fair poll. This, as you well know, in terms of the Presidential Elections Act of 1981 and the Elections (Special Provisions) Act of 1988, is especially so in circumstances which could affect the outcome of the elections. We draw your attention also to Article 21(2) of the Elections (Special Provisions Act which refers to the need for a re-poll where due to an emergency or unforeseen circumstance, the poll for the election of a District cannot be taken.

We hope that you will consider the circumstances of violence and intimidation that accompanied the Presidential polls in the Northern Province and in the Eastern Province on November 17 and call for a re-poll in keeping with the powers vested in you by law.

The complete Interim Report including election day incidents - summary by polling division, tables and charts could be accessed as an Adobe PDF document here (470 kb)

Dr. P. Saravanamuttu Co-Convenor	Sunila Abeysekera Co-Convenor	Seetha Ranjani Co-Convenor