Centre for Policy Alternatives on 5 January, 2015

Statement on elections poll falsely attributed to CPA

5 January 2015, Colombo, Sri Lanka: The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) is aware that a poll purportedly done by CPA projecting the results of the Presidential election is being circulated in the mainstream media and online. It first appeared on a Facebook page called “We vote Mahinda Rajapaksha” which is linked to the official website of the incumbent. Furthermore, the edition of the Silumina on Sunday (4thJanuary) claimed that since the poll showed a Mahinda Rajapaksha victory, CPA deliberately suppressed it.

CPA issued a disclaimer in the first instance and wishes to point out that in one instance we are supposed to have published the results of a poll projecting a Mahinda Rajapaksha victory and in another suppressed it!

It is clear that those behind this misinformation are very keen to have CPA validation of their work and objectives.

CPA wishes to state that this is NOT a CPA survey and that the results of any CPA survey have NOT been suppressed on the grounds, as implied, that they are disappointing and not in line with the supposed political objectives of the organization.

The results of CPA surveys can be accessed on the CPA website.

Centre for Policy Alternatives on 5 January, 2015

#IVotedSL infographic: Voter turnout at Presidential Elections in Sri Lanka

Voting is an important civic responsibility and one way all of us exercise and enjoy our Sovereignty. This responsibility becomes particularly important during a Presidential Election, because of the immense power vested in this office.

With just a few days more for the 2015 Presidential Election, follow and support #IVotedSL, a trilingual campaign launched by Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) to encourage citizens to exercise their right to franchise.

Why should you care? For starters, see the vast powers the office of the Executive President commands in Sri Lanka.

Today, we release another infographic around how one in four registered voters in Sri Lanka, in the past, have not voted at a Presidential Election. We can and must change this.

VOTER ED 2_FINAL version

Change your profile today encourage your friends, family and colleague to go out and vote. To access our badges, logos and profile pics click here.

Centre for Policy Alternatives on 2 January, 2015

#IVotedSL | Exercise your vote on the 8th!

Voting is an important civic responsibility and one way all of us exercise and enjoy our Sovereignty. This responsibility becomes particularly important during a Presidential Election, because of the immense power vested in this office.

With less than one week to go for the 2015 Presidential Election, the Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) officially launched #IVotedSL, a trilingual campaign to encourage citizens to exercise their right to franchise.

The campaign calls on voters to take a public pledge that they will exercise their right to vote on January 8th. An individual can signify this pledge by changing their profile/account picture and cover/banner page on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or any other social media platform. On election day those who take the pledge can share through social media a picture of the fifth digit (little finger) of their left hand which is marked with indelible ink using the hashtag #IVotedSL.

We’ve also created banners Editors of news media and bloggers can choose feature on their websites, in print or via television.

All images are copyright free and available in Tamil, Sinhala and English variants. Download them all from http://bit.ly/ivotedsl.

Over the new week, the #IVotedSL campaign will disseminate infographics on the importance of voting and encourages the general public to also share photos, memes and other media content depicting the importance of voting using the hashtag #IVotedSL.

Our first infographic in this regard is below.

Voter ed 1_Final

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. Currently, CMEV is made up of CPA and INFORM Human Rights Documentation Centre.

CMEV does not support and or endorse any candidate or political party. #IVotedSL is meant to get citizens animated around the importance of exercising their vote. It is emphatically not aimed at the promotion or criticism of any particular candidate.

Centre for Policy Alternatives on 28 December, 2014

Presidential Election 2015 Pre Election Opinion Poll: Top Line Report

Download this report in Sinhala and Tamil.

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27 December, Colombo, Sri Lanka: Social Indicator, the survey research unit of the Centre for Policy Alternatives conducted an island wide pre election opinion poll with the objective of identifying Sri Lankan voter perceptions and attitudes on key topics being discussed in the lead up to the election and thereby contribute to the current political discourse.

Sri Lankans remain hopeful that the 2015 Presidential election will be free and fair with 40.3% saying that it will be free and fair and 21.5% saying it may be free and fair. Only 12.7% of Sri Lankans don’t think it will be free and fair while 25.6% said that they don’t know.

Almost 50% of Sri Lankans believe that a Presidential election is necessary at this juncture while 29.7% don’t think it is necessary. From the four main ethnic communities, 67.5% from the Up Country Tamil community, 62.5% from the Muslim community, 47.1% from the Sinhalese community and 46% from the Tamil community think that a Presidential election is necessary.

When asked if the Constitution should limit a President to serving a maximum of two terms in office irrespective of their popularity, 48.4% of Sri Lankans agreed that it should be limited to two terms, with 24.8% saying that they strongly agree.

39.9% of Sri Lankans are in favour of abolishing Executive Presidency in Sri Lanka while 30.9% said that they don’t know and 29.3% said that they are not in favour.

The three issues that Sri Lankans consider most important are cost of living (32.2%), job opportunities (12.9%) and education (9.8%). For the Sinhalese community the three most important issues are cost of living (34%), job opportunities (12.4%) and security (10.9%). For the Tamil, Up Country Tamil and Muslim communities the important issues in order are cost of living, education and job opportunities.

Conducted in the 25 districts of the country, this opinion poll captured the opinion of 1999 Sri Lankans from the four main ethnic groups. Fieldwork was conducted from the 10 – 20 December 2014.

Please click here to read the full report online, or here to download it as a PDF. Download the infographic in high resolution here.

Pre election poll infographic final

Centre for Policy Alternatives on 24 December, 2014

INFOGRAPHIC: Findings from second online survey on Sri Lanka’s Presidential Election 2015

24 December 2014, Colombo, Sri Lanka: The second online survey conducted by the Centre for Policy Alternatives saw 76% of the respondents stating that a stronger democracy is more important to them than a stronger economy. When asked if the Constitution should limit a President to a maximum of two terms, irrespective of how popular he or she is, 86% of respondents agreed with this statement and only 6% of respondents said that there should be no Constitutional limit on how many terms the President can serve in order to allow strong Presidents to serve the country.

A key issue that is being discussed at present is whether or not the Tamil community should vote in the upcoming elections. 94% of respondents believe that the Tamil community should in fact vote. Given a list of five priorities that are considered important for Sri Lanka’s future and asked which one they believe is the most important, Rule of Law was selected by most respondents (43.5%) as a top priority, followed by independent judiciary (35.4%) and improved economic conditions (17%).

The final question asked respondents if there was an issue that they felt was not being discussed or was not being discussed enough. Issues related to minority rights, ethnicity and the Tamil community, education and unemployment was what was most mentioned by respondents.

The survey was conducted in Sinhala, Tamil and English and was completed by 584 people during the survey period 19 – 23 December 2014.

The objective of the survey was not to predict election results but to gather public opinion on the elections and contribute to ongoing discussions. As the survey was conducted online and not with a random sample, the findings cannot be generalised to Sri Lanka.

Download the infographic below as a high resolution image from here.

Web survey 2 infographic - hi res

 

Centre for Policy Alternatives on 18 December, 2014

INFOGRAPHIC: Findings from online survey on Sri Lanka’s Presidential Election 2015

An online survey conducted by the Centre for Policy Alternatives asked five questions regarding the upcoming Presidential election. The objective of the survey was not to predict election results but to gather public opinion on the elections and contribute to ongoing discussions. As the survey was conducted online and not with a random sample, the findings presented below cannot be generalised to Sri Lanka.

1,394 people completed the survey during the survey period 12-16 December 2014.

Please click here for more information on the findings of this survey.

Download the infographic below as a high resolution image from here.

Online survey 1 infographic_final hi res

Centre for Policy Alternatives on 17 December, 2014

The Presidential Commission to Investigate into Complaints Regarding Missing Persons: Trends, Practices and Implications

Download this report in Tamil or Sinhala.

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Screen Shot 2014-12-17 at 2.26.29 PM

The Presidential Commission to Investigate into Complaints Regarding Missing Persons (the Commission) was established on 15th August 2013 under Gazette No. 1823/42. Over a year into its mandate, the Commission continues to operate under circumstances that raise serious concerns in respect of the search for truth, justice and accountability in Sri Lanka. The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) depicts the Commission not only as its primary instrument to address the grievances of the families of the disappeared, but also since the expansion of its mandate, as the sole mechanism for addressing war time violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, amongst others.

The present critique by the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) captures key issues and trends observed during public sittings of the Commission and the perceptions of affected communities and civil society who have observed and engaged with the present process. At the very outset CPA notes that the Commission, operating under the Commissions of Inquiry apparatus, is structurally flawed, given its dependence on the Executive for appointments, financing and follow up action. Having observed a string of failed State initiatives at transitional justice in recent years and the lack of progress with past Commissions appointed by successive governments, CPA calls for immediate steps to be taken for legal and policy reform that provides for a genuine and credible domestic process at truth seeking, justice and accountability. Failure in this regard further confirms the inability of domestic processes to address grievances in a post war context and strengthens calls for international investigations.

The brief consists of three sections. The first looks into technical issues of the present Commission and critiques the operational processes and practices of the Commission. The second explores the broader issues embedded in the structure within which the Commission operates, while the final section analyses the trend perceptions and concerns and their implications for the Commission’s work.

Download the critique here or read it online here.