Tuesday Apr 23, 2024
Tuesday Apr 23, 2024
Thursday, 6 August 2020 00:35 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Shailendree Wickrama Adittiya
The People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) yesterday stated that they were satisfied with the adherence to COVID-19 health guidelines at polling centres and that the overall election was largely peaceful.
Addressing the press yesterday, PAFFREL Executive Director Rohana Hettiarachchi stated that there was 99% adherence to health guidelines and showed appreciation to the efforts of the Election Commission as well as the health authorities in ensuring the safety of voters at polling stations.
“We also appreciate those who exercised their voting rights today as 65%-70% of voters exercised their voting rights at [yesterday’s] election,” he said.
Hettiarachchi added that they received only five reports of health guideline violations on the day of elections. He added: “We had more cases of violations of health guidelines in the pre-election period, with the highest number of cases, besides illegal propaganda, being violations of health guidelines.” According to reports published by PAFFREL, there were 1,264 incidents of illegal election propaganda being carried out and 344 reports of health guideline violations from 14 June to 2 August. In addition to this, PAFFREL received 143 complaints yesterday, including an incident of assault in Beligalla, Mahiyanganaya and an incident of threats being carried out along with the use of firearms was reported from Kandy. Five incidents of transport being provided to voters and 33 cases of appealing to voters to vote for a particular candidate are also included in the total complaints.
“Two incidents of vehicle parades were also reported: one in Nikaweratiya, Kurunegala and the other in Akkaraipattu, Ampara,” Hettiarachchi said, adding that three complaints have been submitted to the Election Commission regarding these incidents.
A total of 4,316 violations of election regulations on social media were also reported during the cooling period and 510 social media-related incidents, especially on Facebook, were reported yesterday.
Despite these incidents, PAFFREL called the 2020 Parliamentary Elections peaceful and Hettiarachchi said: “Even during the pre-election period, looking at the past few decades or at least the last 10 years, comparatively, this election concluded in a peaceful manner.”
He went on to state that PAFFREL will be monitoring the activities of political parties and candidates in the next two weeks, especially regarding celebrations by winning candidates and parties. He also appealed to the public to refrain from gathering in crowds during this period. PAFFREL also called for electoral reform, especially regarding controls on campaign spending and social media usage, which they see becoming a key tool for election propaganda in the future.
While stating that there was no upper ceiling for campaign financing in the country, Hettiarachchi said that candidates with financial power had an advantage during this election given that COVID-19 safety guidelines prevented many from resorting to traditional methods of campaigning. He also stated that there was a need for law reforms covering advanced voting as well as voting from special circumstances, like quarantine centres. “We noticed that 1,000 to 1,500 persons at quarantine centres were not able to exercise their right to vote because they were not given the opportunity to do so. We know that the Election Commission was trying to help them and establish some sort of system, but unfortunately, they were not able to do it this election,” he explained.
Regarding advanced voting, Hettiarachchi mentioned that election observers as well as persons in the Security, Transport, and Health sectors were unable to go to their polling stations on the day of the elections. “Thus, one of the duties of the next Parliament is to make some sort of law to ensure inclusive elections in the future,” he went on to say.
