TISL urges EC to take legal action over election law violations

• As many as 112 incidents reported, lower than 373 recorded in 2015 

By Shailendree Wickrama Adittiya

Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) on Thursday strongly urged the Election Commission of Sri Lanka (ECSL) to initiate legal action against those who have violated election laws. 

While commending the actions taken by ECSL so far on the incidents reported by local observers, TISL said legal action was important, as ECSL has the power to prosecute those who violate Election Laws.

“We urge ECSL to use this provision because we do have at least two more elections coming up in the next year and it is only through legal action that we can deter and prevent these violations taking place,” Senior Manager (Programs) Sashee de Mel said, adding that the incident reports submitted by TISL can be used for the legal action taken in the future.

A total of 112 incidents of election violations have been reported to TISL, out of which 88 have been submitted to ECSL with the relevant evidence on the misuse of public resources.

“TISL commenced its election observation activities through the Program for the Protection of Public Resources from the first week of October,” de Mel said at a press briefing yesterday.

“Some of these complaints were about actions that were to take place and we were able to prevent the occurrence of them,” she explained, adding that the majority of the complaints were about the misuse of Government vehicles and buildings.

“There were also complaints about public officials engaging in election activities,” de Mel said.

According to TISL, 373 complaints were reported during the 2015 Presidential Elections. “Overall, observer groups have seen that election violations have been low this year but it’s still premature to make conclusions based on these numbers alone as we need to dive deep into the significance of these complaints,” de Mel explained.

TISL has also recorded a number of incidents where appointments in State institutions have been given during this time and RTI requests have been filed to further clarify these appointments and dig deep into the cost of the misuse of public resources.

One of the main violations observed has been the use of Sri Lanka Air Force helicopters in the campaigning phase. “We observed the use of helicopters belonging to Sri Lanka Air Force in Trincomalee, Kantale, Seruwawila, Nuwara Eliya, Badulla, and also in Galle, where not only candidates but in certain cases politicians supporting the candidates have also been transported in them,” de Mel said, adding that TISL was looking at whether these helicopters have been reimbursed.

“If a payment has been made; who made that payment? Have the payments gone through a Ministry or public authority or have the candidates themselves made these payments?” de Mel questioned. According to TISL, details about the incidents will be verified by filing RTI requests.

In addition to this, TISL also looked at the cost of campaigning by the candidates and de Mel stated that, “In the absence of an Election Campaign Financing Law in the country, we are unable to get an understanding of where the funding is coming from to the candidates, what areas candidates are spending on, and how much they are really spending.”

She went on to say that, “this also creates problems to the level playing field given to the different candidates, especially at a time where we see a lot of alternative voices trying to break through into mainstream politics. The use of money is definitely playing a part here and is an advantage to certain candidates.”

However, TISL, having submitted a request for the asset declarations of six presidential candidates, has been informed that the ECSL wasn’t willing to provide them with the information until after the conclusion of the Presidential Elections.

“This is only the first step and we are hoping to request the asset declarations of all candidates after the election as they also do have a period of three months to submit the document,” de Mel added.