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ELECTION MONITORING UNIT Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) The Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) comprises CPA, the Free Media Movement (FMM) and the Coalition Against Political Violence. CMEV has monitored the incidence of election-related violence since the 1997 Local Government Elections. Subsequently it monitored the Local Government Elections in the Jaffna Peninsula (1998) on the invitation of the Commissioner of Elections and the 1999 Provincial Council elections - North Western Province (January), 05 Provinces (April) and the Southern Province (June). CMEV also monitored the December 1999 Presidential Election, the General Elections of 2000 and 2001 and the Local Government Elections of 2002. CMEV monitoring in the North Western or Wayamba Provincial Council election played a key role in exposing the widespread incidence of violence and violations of election laws in that election. CMEV was compelled to call for the annulment of the election and was threatened with criminal defamation by cabinet ministers on account of having named them as being reported as aiding and abetting violations of election law. The contribution of CMEV monitoring in particular, which resulted in the marked decrease in the incidence of election -related violence in the subsequent Provincial Council elections in April and June 1999, cannot be measured exactly. However, it cannot be denied nor can the adversarial nature of the circumstances in which the monitoring had to be conducted. This included a systematic campaign of vilification throughout the state media, on political platforms and a letter to the Elections Commissioner from the General Secretary of the ruling Peoples' Alliance asking him not to extend cooperation to CMEV monitors. On election day, a CMEV monitor was assaulted and an attempt was made to instigate an investigation into an allegation of criminal defamation against the convenors of CMEV. The latter subsequently filed a Fundamental Rights case in the Supreme Court, in the course of which the investigation into the allegation of criminal defamation was abandoned on the grounds that there was no basis for a charge of criminal defamation. Despite the campaign to impugn its integrity, CMEV was able to monitor both the 05 Provincial Council elections as well as the Southern Provincial Council election. This would not have been at all possible without the help and support of the public at large who continued to place their faith and confidence in CMEV, the Election Commissioner and the Police, who greatly facilitated the work of CMEV by extending their cooperation at all times. Following the Provincial Council elections, in recognition of CMEV work, 04 of its monitors were chosen as members of the UNAMET operation in the East Timor referendum (July and August 1999) and CMEV was invited to assist the Malaysian Citizens Election Watch (October 1999) in setting up a monitoring unit. Mr Dev Anand who coordinated the CMEV monitoring exercise for the 1999 Presidential election, was chosen to work with the UNMIK in Kosovo.
1999 Presidential Election and 2000 General Election The Presidential election was the first all -island election that CMEV monitored. The modus operandi of CMEV was that adopted in previous elections. It centred on the monitoring exercise for the duration of the campaign and on election day, as well as the public interest media campaign against election violence. The media campaign was first launched with the Wayamba election and continued thereafter. It covers both the print and electronic media - including the state media until the Wayamba election- as well as a 07 province poster campaign which was inaugurated during the Presidential election. To ensure the comprehensiveness of the monitoring exercise and representative coverage of polling stations on election day, the CMEV operation in the 1999 Presidential election was structured as follows: The Colombo office of CPA functioned as the Secretariat of CMEV as well as the office for the Colombo district. All information from the field was collected and collated at the Secretariat and bulletins released to the media from the Secretariat. CMEV released media bulletins on major incidents on a daily basis and on a weekly basis, provided cumulative figures of the nature and type of incident of election -related violence along with the identification and analysis of provincial and district level trends. This format was adopted because of the scale of the exercise and allowing for time lag in the collection and verification of islandwide data. The Secretariat comprised an overall Coordinator plus staff for processing complaints and maintaining records. There was a coordinator and an assistant for each of the 09 provinces - the Eastern Province being treated as a separate unit in this exercise. In addition 04 staffers were engaged for tabulation and data entry. Despite the district unit division of the islandwide electorate under the Proportional Representation Electoral System, political parties for purposes of elections still continue to organize at a constituency level. To ensure the effectiveness of the monitoring exercise, CMEV deployed monitors throughout the campaign on the basis of one per constituency; as it did in the Southern Provincial Council election. The constituency field monitors worked under the supervision of District Coordinators who were stationed in District Field Offices. There was also an overall Field Coordinator assisted by 03 others who operated as trouble shooters. This structure was chosen to facilitate the smooth flow of information augmented by a tight verification process. All monitors were asked to sign a pledge affirming their impartiality in the election and their commitment to upholding the integrity of the electoral process. CMEV monitors were issued with CMEV identity cards. On Election Day, in addition to the monitoring, staff for the duration of the campaign, CMEV deployed over 3500 additional monitors to ensure coverage of a representative sample of polling stations. Amongst them were international observers attached to CMEV monitors. The international observers were drawn from a variety of countries and organizations including Article 19, Human Rights Watch, the International Commission of Jurists and the Asian Human Rights Commission. As has been past practice, CMEV informed the Election Commissioner of its monitoring exercise and requested the cooperation of the Election Commission. This was not immediately forthcoming however. CMEV also sought the Acting Commissioner's assistance in obtaining security clearance to monitor in the Jaffna peninsula. Similarly with the Election Secretariat at Police Headquarters. CMEV was granted permission to obtain figures from the Election Secretariat on a daily basis, as was accorded at past elections. The cooperation of all political parties was sought and all parties were given the co-ordinates of CMEV offices in the field and of the CMEV Secretariat in Colombo. The CMEV Final Report
on the 1999 Presidential election is a comprehensive
document composed of text, graphs and charts. The text can be
accessed here. The Final Report
is in six parts and includes detailed results of the poll, the scale
of the incidence of violence and malpractice during the campaign
and on election day by polling centre and a series of recommendations
to strengthen the electoral process.
EASTERN PROVINCIAL COUNCIL ELECTION CAMPAIGN - MAY 2008 CMEV
Bulletin of 10th May 2008 - 3rd Release CMEV
Bulletin of 10th May 2008 - 2nd Release CMEV
Bulletin of 10th May 2008 - 1st Release CMEV Bulletin of 9th May 2008 - 1st Release CMEV
Bulletin of 8th May 2008-1st Release
CMEV Bulletin of 7th May 2008 - 1st Release
Final Reports of Election-Related Violence released by CMEV:
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