Centre for Policy Alternatives on 23 October, 2013

Final Report on Election Related Violence: Provincial Council Elections 2013, Northern Province

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CMEV wishes to acknowledge the work of the Commissioner of Elections, his officials in Colombo and throughout the Northern Province, as well as the Police in the holding of the Northern Provincial Council Election. Furthermore, the cooperation and assistance extended to CMEV greatly assisted us in our work.

CMEV also acknowledges the financial support of the National Democratic Institute (NDI) which made its monitoring of this historic election possible.

Finally, we salute the voters of the Northern Province for braving threat and intimidation in large numbers and overcoming a host of other challenges to exercise their franchise. This ensured that though the integrity of the electoral process was undermined, the final result reflected the overall wishes of the electorate.

Download the full report as a PDF here.

Centre for Policy Alternatives on 7 October, 2013

Northern Provincial Election 2013: Mainstream print media front-page coverage

Executive Summary

The Northern Provincial Council (NPC) election in Sri Lanka was held on the 21 September 2013 for the first time in twenty-five years. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) won a total of 30 seats including 2 bonus seats in the 38 member council. The voter turnout was as high as 67.5%, which was quite unexpected due to what was believe to be a widespread disillusionment with the election process and serious intimidation of voters leading up to and on election day.

The frontpages of mainstream print media were monitored on 22 and 23 September to study the coverage given to this election and the results. Unsurprisingly, even amongst non-State / privately owned media, the Sinhala newspapers carried relatively fewer articles, lead news stories and editorials in comparison to Tamil and English newspapers, which featured a lot more coverage around the eelction and its significance for the Tamil people in the North.

Of particular significance in State-owned newspapers is the lack of coverage even in the Tamil Newspapers to the election result and its significance. Thinakaran, the only State owned Tamil newspaper, did not publish any lead news around the results on the 22 September, the day after the election. The State-owned English newspaper, Daily News and Sinhala Newspaper, Dinamina published lead news on the 22 September. Even the few articles published in Thinakaran on 22 and 23 September were clearly biased towards and promoting the government’s perspectives and opinions.

Download the PDF here or read it online here.

Centre for Policy Alternatives on 1 October, 2013

Peace Monitor, Volume 10, Issue 2 – September 2013

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Download a copy of the latest Peace Monitor here. Peace Monitor is a newsletter of the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA).

The CPA was formed in the firm belief that the civil society contribution to public policy debate is vital and in need of strengthening. In fulfillment of its mandate, CPA focuses on issues of governance and conflict resolution through programmes of research and advocacy.

Published since early 2002 as “Saama Kathaa” Peace Monitor is one of the many ways by which CPA seeks to foster and monitor dialogue on key current issues in Sri Lanka.

Saama Vimarshi and Saamathana Nokku are parallel Sinhala and Tamil publications. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the CPA or its board of directors.

Centre for Policy Alternatives on 28 September, 2013

CPA invited to participate in President Obama’s Civil Society Roundtable

24 September 2013, Colombo, Sri Lanka: The Executive Director of the Centre for Policy Alternatives, Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, was invited by the White House to participate in a meeting, hosted by President Barack Obama, with heads of state and leaders of civil society, multilateral organizations, and the philanthropic community to discuss growing restrictions being placed on civil society organizations (CSOs) worldwide.

The meeting took place on 23 September in New York, and a description of it can be readhere. An hour long recording of the meeting, including President Obama’s opening remarks, can be viewed here.

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