2. The Aims and the Principles of CaFFE

CaFFE is a group consists of Trade Unions, Religious Organizations, Civil Society Organizations, Pressure Groups, Political Parties and concerned citizens, who stand for campaigning for Free and Fair Elections. The group of election observers and the activists of CAFFE, represent all the ethnic and religious groups in the country i.e., Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims and as well as the men and women. This group people associated with CaFFE voluntarily engaged in the election monitoring activities covering all the aspects of the whole election. The District Network of CaFFE consists of the prominent personals in the respective district and the people from out side the district as well. Many Social, Religious and Organizations in the district too were among the CaFFE network.

These people and the organizations, who value the democratic traditions and values, got together with CaFFE to involve in the Election Monitoring. The main emphasis of the CaFFE Election Monitoring was to observe the political, legal and technical aspects of the whole election process and to comment on them, whether they are with in the accepted frame. It looked at the Rights of the voters, Rights of the IDP s, maintaining the Law and Order, Protecting the Election Law, Role of the Department of Election and its Officers, the performances of the Government Servants and also how the Media institutions behave during the whole election period.

The approach of the CaFFE was to involve and observe all the actual election related happenings at the grassroots level and to come up with its observations based on them. Therefore there was no pre-concluded or Political party based information taken for consideration when concluding its observations. CaFFE based their observations on the factual reports got from its observers at the grassroots levels and, it never go by the baseless rumors. The report is prepared only after checking through various sources and only if they confirmed. It was not only look at the immediate election environment but also looked at the various structures involved in the whole election. It is therefore the report covers all the incidents took place during all the phases, pre-election, election and post-election periods. Therefore the report contains its observations covering all the aspects and in all the phases.

3. The Political Context

CaFFE believes that the present status of the Rule of Law in the country should be taken in to consideration when engaged in the Election Observation. There are provisions in the 17th Amendment of the Constitution, Parliament, and Provincial Council and Local Government Election Laws to ensure a Free and Fair Election. The government decided to have the Presidential Election before two years of its current term. It was decided after securing a comfortable win in the Eastern, North-Central, Sabaragamuwa, Central, North-West, Uva and Southern Provincial council elections. It was also a fact that the government was able to get the whole county under its command, especially after ending the thirty years old war. The government announced the presidential election, at the time, when over 40 members of parliament elected through the UNP and 10 MP s elected from the JVP were with the governing party. The media, especially the media institutions which carried the opinions of the opposition parties have imposed a self censorship on them due to the suppression. There was hardly opposition opinions expressed and published in the media. This is due to the killings, abductions, arrests, and charging the journalists and sentenced them in courts, which also made some of them to leave the country. Some media institutions were set in fire. Even the websites were subjected to various harassments. All these were led to having only one opinion, which are governments in most of the media institutions.

4. Dissemination of information during the pre-election period

CaFFE was able to issue six News Letters in the last week of the pre-election period through electronic mails. The information was given to the media through 21 Press Releases and by conducting 06 Press Conferences. The information, the observations and the opinion of CaFFE were given on daily basis during this period. This information covered the aspects of violation of the election laws, election violence, and misuse of state properties, breakdown of the law and order and the behavior of the state owned media. CaFFE was able to issue reports which cover the incidents of misusing of the state properties and the biased behavior of the state media before the election. They were published widely through electronic mails and other media. CaFFE has done a pioneering role in this regard and the private media institutions have given a wide coverage for CaFFE reports. Apart from this the CaFFE website constantly updated with information and with relevant photographs. The CaFFE website was included in the collection of documents related to the Presidential Election 2010 in the library of American Congress. This was for the first time that a Sri Lankan website related to the election monitoring was accommodated in the collection in the American congress. Several foreign news agencies have quoted CaFFE over 200 occasions

5. Pre-Election Observations

CaFFE covered all the districts in the country during the pre-election period. There were 178 observers from 1st December to 25th December and more than 460 observers deployed from 26th December to 10th January and engaged in the election observations. The number was increased as nearing the Election Day and 6563 observers engaged in the election observation on the Election Day through out the country. The District Offices of CaFFE were established in Jaffna, Vavuniya, Mannar, Hambantota, Batticaloa, Puttalam, and Nuwara Eliya and in Anuradhapura helped close interactions with the grassroots level election observers. Due to the lack of funds and resources, CaFFE was not able to establish District Officers in the other districts. The Head Office of CaFFE analyzed the information obtained from the district offices, considering the context in which the incident took place. CaFFE did its observations using wide eight aspects.

They are as follows.

i. Whether The Law and Order maintained during the pre-election period?

ii. Whether The State Properties were misused?

iii. Whether The Election Laws were protected?

iv. How The State media behaved?

v. How the Election Department performed its duties?

vi. How the temporary identity cards were issued?

vii. How the rights of the IDPs were protected?

viii. What is the level of the awareness of the voters?

The maintains of the Law and Order

CaFFE received 405 complaints under this category. It was reported 236 incidents of damaging properties, 166 cases of attacking and threatening people, 04 cases of killings, 89 cases of hospitalizations of victims after assaulting/ hurting, 29 cases of violent incidents using firearms and 20 cases of attacking people by organized gangs.

CaFFE wishes to emphasize on the following aspects.

It was reported that special police teams were deployed to entertain the election related complaints made by the people .These teams were personally supervised by the Senior Police officers. However there were no transparency in entertaining and acting on the complaints and there were no reports of arrests made in connection with the complaints. Between the period from announcing the election to accepting nominations, there were violent incidents reported from the Hambantota, Kurunegala, Gampaha and Puttalam districts. It was noteworthy that there were more than 30 occasions that opposition parties complained that the Police was not impartial and work according to the government politicians’ orders and wishes. The opposition has leveled these accusations against the Police Stations in Hambantota, Chilaw, and all the Police stations in Kurunegala district, Matale, Nochchiyagama and Eppawela police stations in Anuradapura district, Gampaha, Monaragala, Polonnaruwa, Batticaloa and Trincomalee.

The organized violence were took place in Hambantota, Anuradapura, Gampaha, Polonnaruwa and Puttalam. There were violent incidents in the other districts too. But they were unorganized and inconsistence in nature. The Police was trying to refer to these pre-election violent incidents as ‘minor incidents’. The Police charged that the Election monitoring groups were trying to report these incidents in a bigger way, but in the same time the police have failed to establish its charge. Most of the cases of violent incidents were charged against the UPFA supporters and the complaints were made by the supporters of Gen Sarath Fonseka.

According the Police, there were 958 cases of violent incidents reported and they have made 412 arrests.

CaFFE noted that the commitment of the relevant authorities and the officers in inquiring these complaints was very low. This situation was eminent in the Hambantota, Polonnaruwa, Anuradapura and Kurunegala districts and there were attacks to seven election offices of Gen Sarath Fonseka in one day in the Polonnaruwa District. It was reported that between 1st and 10th January, 16 election offices of the UNP and JVP were destroyed in Hambantota District.

6. Misuse of State Properties

CaFFE received 139 complaints with regard to the misuse of State Properties during the pre-election period and it was 280 at the end of the election. CaFFE issued a detailed report on the misuse of state properties on 22nd January. UPFA supporters have used almost all the state properties for their election campaign. They have extensively used state media and the vehicles belonging to the state institutions. The properties of the state institutions such as the Sri Lanka Port Authority, Road Development Authority, Foreign Employment Bauer, University Grants Commission, Sri Lanka Transport Board, National Youth Service Council and the Police Department were visibly and openly misused by the UPFA supporters for their election campaign. Apart from this, the properties and the resources belong to the institutions of Samurdhi Authority, Agriculture, Livestock, Plantation and Education Ministries were misused by the UPFA supporters. Samurdhi, NYSC and the Education ministry were among the leading institutes which supplied the Human resources for the UPFA election campaign.

7. Violation of Election Laws

There were 242 incidents reported with regard to the violation of election laws during the pre-election period.

8. Illegal Propaganda Activities

The illegal propaganda activities were the common violation of the election law occurred during the whole campaign. Both the main candidates were started to exhibit their Banners, Cut-outs, and posters in a wide scale. However most of the violations were done by the UPFA supporters. The removing of the illegal posters, cut-outs etc, by the Police were mostly applied for the Opposition candidate. It was reported that the supporters of the main Opposition candidate have engaged in destroying the cut-outs of the UPFA candidate. The cut-outs of the UPFA candidate displayed between Nittambuwa and Kegalle (January 5/6), from Panadura to Ambalangoda (January 5), in some selected places on Negambo- Colombo road (January 6) were destroyed by the supporters of the oppression candidate. With these incidents, it was seen that the Police guard was deployed to protect the cut-outs of the UPFA candidate. These police guards were deployed by the Kandy, Katugastota, Kadugannawa, Puttalam, Chilaw, Anuradhapura, Nochchiyagama, Eppawela, Monaragala and all the Police stations in Hambantota and six Police stations in Kurunegala district ,Rattota in Matale district, Gampaha, Nittambuwa, Kelaniya, Divlapitiya and Katana.

9. Entertaining Voters at the Temple Trees

Several and different professional groups, Trade Unions, Civil Society Organizations, Business groups and ethnic groups were entertained at the Temple Trees. The Oppression Political Parties protested against this act and as a result the Election Commissioner sent his recommendations to the President’s Secretary in this regard. However this was continued at the Temple Trees and at The Bandaranayake Memorial Hall.

10. Pledge to Increase the Salaries of the Government servants

Both the main candidates, Gen Sarath Fonseka and Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse promised to increase the salaries of the government servants by Rs 10000/ and 2500/ respectively, in order to attract the votes.

11. Voter Education Programme

For the last 26 years there were no voters education activity in the North. The level of the awareness with regard to the ‘right of voting’, marking the ballot paper and obtaining the ID cards etc .were at the very low level among the voters in the North. CaFFE conducted several programs to make the voters aware and the Tamil News papers published in the North gave their fullest support for this. These programs covered the aspects such as the legal provisions for pasting posters, obtaining TIC s, the duties of the Polling Agents etc. The Jaffna News Papers, “Udayan”, “Valampuri” and “Thinakural” gave their fullest support and assisted to educate the voters.

12. The Behaviors of the State Media Institutions

CaFFE issued two separate reports during the election period on the misuse of the State Media Institutes. The second report attached to this report for further reading. All the state media institutions in the country, the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC), Independent Television Network (ITN), Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC), Lakhanda and the Lake House misused their resources , air time, programs, feature articles/programs, News and the publications in a maximum and unaccepted level for the Election Campaign of the UPFA. These were seen also as the attempts beyond the ‘election propagandas’ and aimed at mud slinging against the main opposition candidate. CaFFE issued a report and pointed out as how these Media Institutions violated the guidelines issued by the Election Commissioner on the usage of media during an election period.

13. The performance of the department of Elections.Issuing Temporary Identity Cards

According to the voter register of 2008, there were no identity card numbers written in front of the names of 1.9 million voters. Out of these voters, CaFFE believes that some of the voters may have at least one sort of identity card to prove their identity. Thus about 1.2 million to 1.5 million voters may not have any sort of identity card.

The Department of Registrations of Persons and the Department of Elections working separately to issue the Temporary Identity Cards (TIC) for these voters. Accordingly, the Department of Registrations of Persons and the Department of Elections have printed TIC s 2.6 million and one million respectively. Hence the transparency of the whole process of issuing TIC s has become an issue and a concern.

CaFFE has drawn the attention of the Election Commissioner on this matter and protested against utilizing the politically appointed officers such as Samurdhi Officers and Govi Niyamakas in the process of issuing TICs. As the Political Parties too protested against this involvement, the Election Commissioner took steps to remove these officers from this work. CaFFE, during the Eastern Provincial Council Elections revealed that there were some fake TICs issued to some people. As the Commissioner announced that the TICs issued for the Provincial Council Election in the East, are not valid for the Presidential Election, we believe that the Commissioner too has accepted this. CaFFE in a letter to the Election Commissioner drew his attention for the following issues.

1. The other officers at the Divisional Secretariats, apart from the Divisional Secretary and the Administrative Officer are been involved in the process of issuing the TICs.

2. These officers though attached to the DS, are paid by the other Ministries and from Special Projects, particularly in Nuwara Eliya, Puttalam, Badulla, Mannar, Anuradhapura, Kurunegala, Ampara, Batticaloa and Jaffna Districts are involve in the process of issuing TICs.

In this circumstances it can not be ruled out the possibility of a fraud in issuing the TICs Therefore we urge you to consider of taking following steps.

a. To publish a list containing the names of the people who obtained the TICs so far and the Polling Centers at which they are supposed to exercise their ballots.

b. In order to verify whether there was an ‘organized move’ of obtaining the TICs, we urge you to keep all the applications under the custody of Your Department and conduct a random check on some of these applications before the Election to verify the bona fides.
c. To check whether the TICs have issued for the people who are in foreign countries particularly in the Eastern Province.

d. To check whether the TICs are issued for the Internally Displaced Persons lived in Puttalam and more importantly, whether for the same persons other TICs are issued in Jaffna, Mannar, and Vavuniya and in Puttalam districts.

CaFFE made a request to the Election Commissioner to take the following steps to safeguard the rights of the voters who do not have a proper identity card.

a. To have a random check on the applications

b. To publish a list of the Names who obtained the TICs with the Names of the relevant Polling Centers

c. To cancel the TICs issued for the persons who do not have their names in the voting list

d. To remove /cancel the TICs, if issued, for the Dead People and the persons who are in foreign countries.

The Department of Election accepted most of the facts forwarded by CaFFE and took steps to prepare a list of names of those who obtained a TIC. In addition to this they took steps to forward the application form (Which submitted by the applicant to get a TIC) to the polling centers. In the same time the Election Commissioner directed the SPOs to retain the TIC after the voter exercise his/her ballot. These steps helped to minimize the rigging or malpractices in voting using the TICs.

However CaFFE noted that the attention of the Political Parties in this issue was at a very low level. Except for Matara, Badulla and Puttalam districts, in all the other districts the opposition political party leaders were not bothered even to check the relevant lists.

Appoint a Competent Authority to look in to the matters in the Media Institutions

As a result of the requests made by the Political Parties and the Election Monitoring groups to the Election Commissioner, he was able to issue 21 guidelines on 17th December advising as how the media institutions should act during an election period. Responding to a query made by CaFFE, the Election Commissioner promised to appoint a Competent Authority to look in to the behaviors of the media institutions, if the parties concerned are not satisfied with the usage of the guidelines by the media institutions.

The Secretary General of UNP, Mr. Tissa Attanayake issued a statement after the meeting of the Political Party leaders with the EC, on 29th December, which got the wide publicity on the behavior of the media institutions. However, the Competent Authority got 5-6 days to start his duties and in fact he started his work on 5th January. It was reported that the CA has issued several directives which were not published, to the media institutions.

By this time the EC has ordered to stop five programs telecasted by SLRC, though these programs were telecasted with other titles. The EC at a meeting with the Political party leaders expressed his dissatisfaction with regard the whole affairs with the media institutions and stated he will take steps to call back the CA, as there is no point in keeping him as the media institutions are not responding to his directives. It was clearly visible that the EC was under enormous pressure.

Transfers of the Government Officers

After announcing the Election, the EC has issued an order preventing the transfers of the State Officers on 7th November. However there were many transfers made violating this order especially in the North-Central province. The Teacher Trade Union leaders were transferred to other places in this province. It appeared that the Police Department has got the approval of the EC to transfer the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Mr. Jayawardena from Ampara to Killinochchi. CaFFE protested to this action and pointed out that the transfer is politically motivated.

CaFFE believes that this type of transfers could adversely effect to the whole process of the election. As a result of the protest staged by CaFFE and other concerned organizations, the Police Department had to cancel the transfer. Following this incident, in the night on 2nd January some of the Police Officers have taken steps to remove the illegal cut-outs and banners.

It clearly showed that these officers had faith on the EC for performing their duties in accordance with the election laws. The information was flooded of this type of illegal transfers and, in one such occasion, the civil organizations were able to stop the appointment of the Chairman of the Sugarcane Corporation.

Ensuring the Rights of the Voters

Even though the election was announced soon after ending the war, there were no steps to safeguard the voting rights of the IDPs. Though there were many people above 18 years of age, they were not included in the voter registers. There were many areas in Jaffna and Vanni districts, where the voter registers were not updated after 1986.

The names of the people who are already died, who have left the country and who live with their relatives in other areas were not removed from the voter registers and they were still included. Most of the voters in these areas were denied their right to vote, as the voter registers were not properly updated. This situation is seen as a peculiar situation, which is not seen in the other areas of the country.

The Rights of the vote of the IDPs

CaFFE was constantly interacting with the relevant authorities with regard to safeguard the Rights of the voters among the IDPs. Some of the concerns and the issues taken were as follows.

1. The actual numbers of voters live in the IDP camps and whether they have any kind of ID cards.

2. The numbers of people re-settled from the Camps and whether they have any kind of ID cards.

3. The IDPs live outside their original electorate and the facilities provided for them for casting their votes.

4. Establishment of ‘Cluster Polling Centers’, its mechanism and the facilities provided for the voters to cast their votes.

5. The transport facilities arranged for the IDPs to cast their votes.

6. The status and the progress of issuing TICs to the IDP s and numbers of applications received and number of TICs issued.

7. The officers deployed to work in the Polling Centers and are they Tamil Speaking Officers?

By the time that CaFFE started to inquire about these IDPs, it noted that there were 84,500 people who are above 18 years live in 9 IDP Camps. The resettlement process was accelerated soon after the announcement of the Election. The Election Department originally decided to establish 17 Polling Centers for the IDPs and it was reduced to 9 centers by 26th January. However the voting was taken place only in 7 centers on the Election Day. The Polling centers were established in the Manik Farm Camp at the Aravithottam Maha Vidyalaya. According to the EC, only 16,973 voters were eligible for voting at these centers.

14. Summary of the Observations in the Pre-Election period

CaFFE involved in Election Monitoring work as an accepted group by the EC. CaFFE was invited for all the meetings with the Political party Leaders and CaFFE interacted with the Election Department through telephone and through letters almost every day.The report was based on the information obtained by CaFFE during the whole election period.

CaFFE presents its observations as follows.

CaFFE presents its observations as follows.

1. CaFFE observes that the Election was held in a situation where the full Constitutional framework for the Election process was not enforced. The Independent Election Commission, the Police Commission and the Public Service Commission which were created by the 17th Amendment of the Constitution to guarantee a free and fair election were not activated. Thus it is difficult to expect an impartial involvement of the public servants. It was very clear that most of the Police Officers had to carry out the orders of the Politicians in the area. The Government Officers too were adversely influenced by them, thus disturbed the environment which should conducive to have a free and fair election

2. It was clearly visible that the Police Department had work in accordance with the wishes of the Politicians of the Governing party. The advantage of the absence of the Independent Police Commission was capitalized by these politicians for their own ends. It was visible that the UNP and JVP politicians were not given the proper police protection. With regard to the security aspects of the Presidential candidates, Gen Fonseka it was clear that the security arrangements were not adequate with few security personals and it was highlighted at several occasions.

3. It was reported that the complaints made by the Opposition political parties were not entertained by the Police. This situation is visible in the Hambantota, Anuradapura, Polonnaruwa, Monaragala, Kurunegala and Puttalam districts.

4. During the pre-election period, 412 violent incidents were reported. This is a high proportion compare to the previous elections. It is also high in the intensity and the organized manners of the incidents. It was reported that over 90 people were hospitalized due to physical attacks and 28 incidents reported where the firearms used. There was reports everyday, of damaging the election offices of the opposition parties by armed gangs. Till the second week of January, most of the complaints were against the UPFA. But after the second week the UPFA offices were too attacked by the opposition parties.

5. Most of the complaints were against the UPFA and they were made by the JVP and UNP supporters.

6. The programs conducted by the Election Department to educate the voters were seen as a minimal effort.

7. It was also reported that the National Identity Cards were forcibly taken from the people before two days to the election.

8. The relevant government officers were not keen to take back the vehicles belonging to the state institutions, even after the reports and complaints made pointing out that they are misusing for the election campaign of the UPFA. Many of the state institutes denied the chargers leveled against them by the Transparency International which charged them for misusing their properties for the election campaign. But after CaFFE proved them through the media, the state institutes kept their silence. It is also seen that some of the government officers were freely allowed the state properties to be taken away and utilized for the election campaigns.

9. The election propaganda and the campaign in the North seen dull and the attention to secure the voting rights of the IDPs was also seen very low.10. Most of the public servants especially attached to the Road Development Authority, National Youth Service Council, Port Authority and the Education Department were deployed to campaign for the candidate of the governing party.

15. The Postal Election

There were 19 complaints received by CaFFE with regard to the Postal Election. The Serious issue was reported from the Rattota Police Station. The Police Officers stated through affidavits that the OIC of the Rattota Police Station has influenced them in casting their ballots. The illegal propaganda was common in most of the Postal voting centers. There were several incidents reported in the SLTB Depots. Some of the voters after exercising their postal votes have received the polling cards by post. CaFFE informed this incident to the EC through a confidential report.

The ARO of Nuwara Eliya has advised the relevant officers through telephone (Example Health Department) not to reveal this incident to the Election Monitors.

There were 401,118 voters eligible for the postal votes and 394,125 voters have exercised their ballots. This records a 98.25% of turnout. CaFFE has issued a separate report on the Postal Voting.

16. Distance Voting Facilities Provided for IDPs

The IDPs from the Northern and Eastern Provinces, who live in different places, were provided Distance Voting facility. The IDPs live in Jaffna, Vanni, Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Ampara districts got this facility. There were 48,000 voters who applied for this facility and only 45,732 were allowed to vote. The low number of IDP voters recorded due to the complicated and the long procedure involve in this registration process. However some of the voters live in Mannar, Vavuniya and Jaffna districts have submitted more than one application for registration. The EC stated that the information and the signatures are different in the two applications. The Election department took steps to reject these applications to avoid any malpractice.

17. The Observations on the Election Day

The observations of CaFFE on the Election Day were based on the two elements. They are,

1. The incidents reported by the CaFFE Observers.

2. The situation prevailed in and out side of the Polling Centers. The incidents took place on the Election Day reported were the physical assaults, casting other people’s votes and disrupting the voters in an organized manner. It was also reported, that some of the groups were attempted to create an atmosphere which is not conducive for voting peacefully in an organized manner. CaFFE did its observations through 6563 observers and some mobile units at the polling centers, IDP camps, Cluster Polling centers and at the Counting Centers. It also observed the behavior of the state media and all the other aspects of the election CaFFE took steps to deploy special teams for the centers that identified as the centers which needs special attention. CaFFE was able to deploy such teams to all the polling centers in the North except for only six centers. CaFFE was not able to deploy the adequate number of observers to the other districts as it wishes, due to the lack of resources.

The commitment of the social activists who gave their fullest support in those districts should be noted with sense of gratitude. CaFFE was able to visit most of the places, though in some places it was hampered as the EC was not permitted the CaFFE observers to enter in to the Polling Centers. Despite this, most of the officers involved in the Election duties rendered their fullest support for the observations. Most of the Political Parties, the Civil Society Organizations and also the Police Officers gave CaFFE voluble information with regard to conducting a free and fair election. The Officers of the Election Department have arranged all the facilities to conduct a free and fair election. The transportation of the ballot boxes, stationeries, non sensitive documents were done in an optimum level. CaFFE is satisfied with the way in which the EC took steps to deliver the ‘sensitive documents’ to his officers all over the country.

All the Polling Centers came under observation of CaFFE, started the polling at 7.00 am and concluded at 4.00 p.m. as scheduled. There was no a single complain received during the voting time. The armed police teams were deployed in and out sides of the polling centers and they have maintained the peaceful atmosphere conducive to conduct a free and fair election. The police did not allow the groups to loaf around the polling centers. However, the organized groups were seen loafing around the polling centers in Nawalapitiya, Hanguranketha, Puttalam, Dambulla, Mahiyanganaya, Ampara, Anuradapura and Polonnaruwa districts.

It was seen that the elderly and handicapped people were assisted by the officers attached to the polling centers. It was evident that the officers were well trained to perform their duties. There were Tamil speaking officers deployed in the polling centers in the North and in the East. How ever, the officers deployed in the polling centers for IDPs in Settikulam and Ullukkulam and in seven polling centers at Aravithottam Maha Vidyalaya seen as officers with less experience. There were some problems erupted in Puninn in Killinochchi as a result of deploying inexperience officers.

According to the CaFFE observation, it was noted that in most of the polling Centers, in all the districts there were at least 3 polling agents present. There was a shortage of such polling agents in the polling centers in Killinochchi, Vavuniya, and Mullaittivu and Jaffna districts. The Polling agents of JVP, were subjected to a screening at the Iratteperiyakulam Police Road Block in Vavuniya, thus, were not able to go to the polling centers in time. Some observers of CaFFE too, who were heading to Killinochchi and Mullaittivu had to limit their journey due to the same reason.

CaFFE noted that only few polling agents were got some training to fulfill their responsibilities. Most of them were not aware of the status and situations to deal with such as, the issues with regard to the TICs, sealing the ballot boxes with a plastic cover, travel with the ballot boxes in the same vehicle and the steps should take while the ballot boxes are transporting.CaFFE noted that the confidential nature of the ballot papers was well secured. The step taken by the EC to put the ballot box in a transparent plastic cover was a progressive step.

The polling agents were seen taking steps efficiently to transport the ballot boxes with the police security. The step taken by the EC to allow the polling agents to travel with the ballot boxes is praiseworthy. In the same time there were arrangements for the polling agents to protect and be with the ballot boxes till the counting started. However in some places the polling agents were disrupted at the Road blocks.

18. The need of an Identity Card

The system of Identity Card introduced to prevent the malpractices at an election. But, contrary to this, this protective measure has become a barrier for some people. The people, who do not have a proper ID, are not keen in getting a TIC only for the purpose of casting their votes. Nevertheless, CaFFE endorse the measure of introducing the ID card as a positive step to curb any malpractices.

19. The arrangements for the IDPs to cast their vote at s distance place.

Though there were reports to suggest that over 50,000 IDPs applied to get the voting right, there were only 45,729 registered. Out of this number only 25,698 persons exercised their votes, which is only, 56%. In Jaffna district only 10,147 were voted out of 15,602 registered. In Vanni district it was 29,940. It was reported that 701 votes were rejected.

20. The Observation on the Election Day

On the Election Day, 26th January, CaFFE received 103 complaints between 7.00 am to 4.00 pm.

* There were four or six bomb explosions in Jaffna few hours before the voting stated. There were hand grenade attacks in Nallur, Kolombuthurai and in Point Pedro and CaFFE was able visit those areas. There was another Hand Grande attack in a place around 11.00 am on the Vavuniya- Mannar road.

* In six places in Ja-Ela and Divlapitiya, there were incidents of threatening, firing and set fire to the properties was reported.

* The assaults were reported in Bathalayaya in Mahiyanganaya Electorate. The same incidents were reported from the same area even at the Uva Provincial Council Elections.

* Several news and programs were telecasted /broadcasted through the state media supporting the governing party candidate and it was announced that Gen Fonseka do not have the right to vote.

* In Nawalapitiya and Hanguranketha areas, there were reports to say that the polling agents of the opposition party were chased out from the polling centers. The violence incidents were reported from Jaffna, Batticaloa, Monaragala, Badulla, Ampara, Matale and Gampaha. There were 24 cases of assaults, 12 cases of damaging properties, 24 cases of chasing out of the polling agents were reported.

* Most of the incidents, 24 out of 37 reported were with regard to the illegal propaganda activities. In the same time few cases were reported with regard to the illegal processions.

It is not essentially proved that there was a “Free and Fair” election, simply because there was a relatively peaceful atmosphere only on the Election Day. If the law and order is not maintained during all the phases of the election, it is very difficult for the opposition candidates to carry out their election campaign in a reasonable manner.

CaFFE noted that the violence incidents were lesser on the Election Day compare to the pre-election period. When considering the violation of the election laws the following are the main aspects.

· Exhibiting the symbol and the name of the candidates in processions using the vehicles.

· Distributing leaflets and pocket colanders with the candidates name and symbol.

· Exhibiting medium size cut-outs on the vehicles.

· Requesting the votes using the loudspeakers

. Requesting votes from the voters at ant around the Polling Centers. It was reported from all the districts that the illegal banners and cut-outs were exhibited violating the election law. This was the main way of popularizing the name and the symbol of the candidates and as this is relatively low cost, most of the candidates opt for this.

21. Polls in the North

There were four or six bomb explosions in Jaffna few hours before the voting stated. There were proofs, that they were exploded near the Mayors office in Nallur, in Kolombuthurai and in Point Pedro. This discouraged the voters to come for voting and as a result only few came for the voting in the morning. However in the afternoon there was a good turnout and, in Kayts people looked enthusiastic and lots of EPDP supporters were seen there. The turnout of the voters in the Cluster Polling Centers in Killinochchi was seen as very low even at 11.30 am.

The lack of transport facilities for the voters resulted for the low turnout. There were no buses from the Ullukkulam and Settikulam IDP camps to the Killinochchi Play Ground and to the Vavuniya Tamil Maha Vidyalaya. Though the Election Department attempted to get the private buses for this purpose it was not successful. The CTB buses, which are expected to transport these people, were taken and have parked elsewhere. The voters in the IDP camps and the re-settled in the villages were denied their right to vote, as they were not supplied with adequate transportation. It was one of the main reasons for the low turnout of the voters in the Killinochchi district.

Though the same thing happened for the voters in the Vavuniya Maha Vidyalaya, many of them have arranged their own transportation and voted. Hence the turnout was higher in this center. The voters were keen in the Mannar district except for Madhu area. This was seen in the areas where the Muslims are a majority. This was not disrupted even after the bomb exploded in the area. The incidents took place on the Election Day between 7.00am to 5.30 pm were listed separately.

22. The period after the voting time

Soon after the voting time of the election was over, Gen Sarath Fonseka shifted to the Hotel Cinnamon Lakeside in Colombo and reserved 70 rooms for the staff and the UNP and JVP leaders. Few minutes later Army regiment and police teams were deployed around the Hotel. All the visitors who entered and coming out from the Hotel were subjected to heavy checking.

The popular websites such as Lanka e News, Lanka news and Lanka Guardian were interrupted and the CaFFE website too was interrupted with in the country. The telephone interruptions were too reported from some parts of the country.

There were also troops around some of the private media institutions. This led to spread rumors in the country.

There was also a rumor in the 27th morning to suggest that the EC is under ‘house arrest’ and many people inquired this from CaFFE too whether it is true. CaFFE promptly inquired about this rumor and found it is false and baseless.

23. The Counting of the ballots

As soon as the results of the election announced, many people tend to suspect the outcome.

The counting was started as scheduled, and it was reported that the counting has gone on smoothly. After some time some incidents were reported. The incidents were reported from the Kurunegala, Anuradapura, Matale, Gampaha, Puttalam, and Hambantota districts.

A group of drunken people have attempted to enter to the counting center in Anuradapura around 11.30 pm. The police have acted accordingly and have sent them away. This group then has assaulted a SPO in the counting center. The Police has arrested four people including a security guard of a politician in the area.

As a politician of the area arrived at the seen, the Police Inspectors, Mr. Vipula Thennakoon and Mr. Harsha de Silva who were on duty at the place have arrested him. Meanwhile it was reported that the Superintendent of the Police, Mr. Samarakoon arrived at the seen and withdrew the Police Officers on duty and thus the group of people then have entered the counting center. This group has behaved violently and threatened the officers involve in counting. The District Returning Officer has informed this to the EC and, the EC has complained this to the IGP. At around 3.00 am this group has gone out and most of the Counting Agents of the relevant Political Parties have gone out due to the threat of this group.

It is reported that an inquiry is been held against the police officers who arrested the group and there were no legal actions taken with regard to the assaults and threats on the Counting Officers.

There were reports of chasing out of the Counting agents of the political parties from the counting centers in Kurunegala district, especially in Panduwasnuwara, Bingiriya, Pannala, Mawathagama and Dodangaslanda electorates.

Dr Jyalath Jayawardena of the UNP was assaulted when he visited the counting center established at the Paththalagedara Teacher Training School in Gampaha district. As a result they were compelled to go out from the Counting Center around 11.00pm. Before the final result announced the JVP counting agents and all the others were forced to go out from the center.

A tension was erupted in Mannar, as a politician of Vanni district threatened an ARO of the district.

A minister alone with his wife and a group of people have entered the Counting Center at the Christuraja Vidyalaya in Matale and chased all the counting agents away. Mr. Ranjith Aluvihare the UNP MP for the area and an ex MP of JVP too were subjected to this threat. The Police promptly have removed these MPs as they were under threat.

The Counting agents of the opposition candidates were compelled to go away around 11.30 pm from the counting center established at Fathima Maha Vidyalaya in Puttalam as there was a severe threat against them. Mr. Range Bandara the UNP MP for the area was among the people who left the place.

One of a counting Officer in Ratnapura was reported attacked.

24. Post Election Violence

Two were killed including a Buddhist monk and six were injured in a hand grenade attack in Nawalapitiya on the 27th morning. As the tension mounted in the area, police imposed the curfew in the area.

After the results announced, till 30th January, there were 78 election related violent cases reported. The incidents were higher in the areas such as Kurunegala, Hambantota, Rajanganaya, Polonnaruwa, Anuradapura, Puttalam, Rambukkana and Galle.

25. The Post Election Situation

There was a situation for the staff of the Lanka e news website, that they could not start there work due to various pressures. Mr. Prageeth Eknaligoda, one of its staff members was disappeared few days ago. The editor of the Lanka newspaper was arrested and the press was sealed.

The EPDP launched a ‘Harthal” in Jaffna on 30th and it was not that successful.

CaFFE Observations and Recommendations

CaFFE goes beyond been a mere “election monitoring group’ when it submit their recommendations. This area covers the aspects such as the democratic values, the right of the people to elect its representatives through an electoral process, right to conversing, behavior and the involvement of the media, implementation and the utilization of the Election Laws, the election process with out violence, counting the ballots and ultimately conducting a “Free and Fair” elections and these have become the concerns of CaFFE.

The 2010 pre-election phase was with full of violent incidents and reports of violations of the Election Laws. There was no equal status among the candidates, as the state media and the police acted in favor of one candidate. Hence, as a whole this can not be regarded as a free and fair election.

There were some barriers for the voters to exercise the vote in a free and fair manner. This is seen in particular among the voters in the North, who were not able to cast their vote as the other people did in the country. After 30 years of war most of them were in the IDP camps and ‘resettled’ but still had no chance to vote.

CaFFE, as a movement which stands to safeguard the socio and political rights of all the people in the country, wishes to submit its recommendations with regard to the recently concluded Presidential Election.

26. CaFFE Observations and Recommendations

CaFFE goes beyond been a mere “election monitoring group’ when it submit their recommendations. This area covers the aspects such as the democratic values, the right of the people to elect its representatives through an electoral process, right to conversing, behavior and the involvement of the media, implementation and the utilization of the Election Laws, the election process with out violence, counting the ballots and ultimately conducting a “Free and Fair” elections and these have become the concerns of CaFFE.

The 2010 pre-election phase was with full of violent incidents and reports of violations of the Election Laws. There was no equal status among the candidates, as the state media and the police acted in favor of one candidate. Hence, as a whole this can not be regarded as a free and fair election.

There were some barriers for the voters to exercise the vote in a free and fair manner. This is seen in particular among the voters in the North, who were not able to cast their vote as the other people did in the country. After 30 years of war most of them were in the IDP camps and ‘resettled’ but still had no chance to vote.
CaFFE, as a movement which stands to safeguard the socio and political rights of all the people in the country, wishes to submit its recommendations with regard to the recently concluded Presidential Election.

27. The Recommendations

The Campaign for Free and Fair Elections - CaFFE, based on reports it has received during the whole election period recommends the following steps to improve the possibility of holding a free and fair election.

1. The Constitutional framework for the Election process should be set up before any kind of Election could take place in the country. The independent Election Commission, the Police Commission and the Public Service Commission must be activated as a the Free and Fair election process as a whole cannot be entrenched in the absence of those Commissions which were created by the 17th Amendment to the Constitution. Without these Independent Commissions the fairness and the Credibility of the election process can not be guaranteed.

2. There should be some Awareness and Educational programs to educate the voters with regard to obtaining/having an Identity Card in order to use for voting.

3. The Polling Agents should be given Training on the duties and responsibilities of a Polling Agent.

4. The Counting Officers should be given a proper and adequate security during the whole period of counting. It should be continuing with out interruption till end of the counting. The unauthorized persons should be preventing of entering the counting centers.

5. The out dated election laws need to be revised. The alternative methods should be introduced to publicize candidate’s name, number with other details while omitting the posters, banners, and cut-outs.

6. The election commissioner should take steps to advice and to issue the guidelines for the media institutions during the election period.

7. Stern actions should be taken against the Officers and the institutions who/which misused the State Properties for the Election campaigns.

8. The Law Enforcement Authorities should take stern actions on the directives of the Election Commissioner against the people/groups who involved in election violence. Action should be taken to bring these people to trial. Despite the fact of their political affiliations. Everybody should be equal before the law and it is one of a fundamental principle of democracy. If the Police are not acting accordingly, action should be taken against those officers too.

9. It was also noted that the Election Commissioner has treated the Election Monitoring Groups differently. Only two Groups were allowed to enter the Polling Centers for example. The EC should introduce the guidelines for the Monitoring Groups as how to ‘qualify’ for a ‘full scale’ monitoring Group.10. The attention of the relevant authorities should be drawn for deploying children and using child labor for election related work such as pasting poster etc.

28. The Acknowledgement

We wish to thank US Aid and the Switzerland Embassy in Sri Lanka for their helped CaFFE to make the Election Observation a success. Your efforts will certainly contribute to improve the Election related affairs in the country and thus help to strengthen the democratic values and practices.

Campaign For Free and Fair Election/CaFFE

February 3rd, 2010