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Sunday Dec 15, 2024
Wednesday, 5 August 2020 03:29 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Shailendree Wickrama Adittiya
Over 8,000 observers have been deployed by election monitoring bodies across the island to assess the situation at polling centres today.
Speaking to the Daily FT, People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL), Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV), and Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) shared that stationary observers as well as mobile observation teams have been deployed across the country.
According to PAFFREL Executive Director Rohana Hettiarachchie, 3,040 stationary observers have been deployed by the organisation and will begin monitoring activities at polling centres by 6.30 a.m. today. “They will be inside the polling stations across the country in almost every district, and around 20% to 25% of polling stations are covered by the stationary observers,” Hettiarachchie stated.
He added that 260 mobile teams have also been deployed and each vehicle will have five observers. “We have allocated 15 vehicles to Colombo, and we will look at areas where there is a high number of incidents as per our experience,” he continued.
In addition to this, 210 observers have been allocated to monitor activities during the counting of votes, and PAFFREL will look at the overall situation, including violence, violations, and whether persons can vote freely.
PAFFREL also published the number of violations reported during the cooling period from 3 August to 4 p.m. on 4 August. Of the 120 violations in total, 102 are confirmed reports. Of these, 71 are incidents of illegal election propaganda being carried out, and 15 are incentives being given with political objectives.
There were also five violations of medical rules during campaigns.
CMEV, another monitoring body in the country, will be focusing on campaign expenditure by political parties and candidates, and has established a separate unit to monitor the cost of campaigns. “We will reveal the expenditure of political parties and candidates during the campaign period,” CMEV National Coordinator Manjula Gajanayake said.
He added that a field visit report will be compiled as well, and 175 mobile observation teams have been deployed to select areas in the country. Training sessions for mobile observers were carried out yesterday, and 3,000 static observers will monitor the situation at polling stations. He added that disabled persons will be deployed for election monitoring.
“We will also be observing social media platforms [today] and how they are being used, and we will be submitting three reports to the Election Commission,” Gajanayake said, adding that three Election Day reports will be published at 10 a.m., 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. today.
In a report published on 2 August, the CMEV stated that 1,101 election-related violations were reported between 2 March and 2 August. Of these, 367 are illegal campaigning, 242 are health guideline violations, and 211 are illegal posters and cut-outs.
In addition to PAFFREL and CMEV, the Daily FT also spoke to CaFFE regarding their monitoring activities for the day. CaFFE Executive Director Ahamed Manas said, “We have 26 district coordinators and 100 long-term observers for the entire election season, as well as Election Day. For their support we also have 2,200 Election Day observers. Over 100 vehicles will be used for mobile observations by CaFFE.”
He added that 15 hotspots for election violations were identified when campaigning began, and the highest number of incidents were reported from Akkaraipattu and Pottuvil. Thus special teams are being deployed to these two areas as well as the other hotspots.
