Rigid rules pertaining to proof of identity prevented more than 200,000 people from voting at yesterday’s Western Provincial Council elections in the Gampaha district.
Keerthi Tenakoon, spokesman for the Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE), said some 240,000 people in the Gampaha district had no national ID cards, and as a result the majority of Gampaha’s voters could not vote. “This should never have happened. This is a violation of one’s fundamental rights,” Mr. Tenakoon said.
“The authorities must go into this matter very seriously before they call the next elections, expected later this year. “Many voters holding documents provided by the local Grama Sevaka were turned away in their thousands, despite pleas to the polling officers. These people had obtained Grama Sevaka certificates because they are waiting for fresh IDs from the Department of Registration of Persons.”
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| Those who did get to vote were lucky; many were turned away because they did not carry proper identification documents. |
An exact figure on the number of people who could not use their vote at yesterday’s elections will be available only in the next few days, he said.
Mr. Tenakoon said the election had not been “free and fair”, although he noted that the number of polls-related incidents, including violence, had not been as high as it had been in previous Provincial Council elections.
He said more than 100,000 cases of duplicate ballot papers, and even triplicate papers, had been detected across the Western Province.
Mr. Tenakoon further alleged that there was wide-scale intimidation of rival candidates in the run-up to the polls and on the day of the polls. As a result, a significant number of people who could have voted failed to turn up at the polling booths.
Mrs. Geethani Senanayake was turned away from a booth at St. Anne’s College, in Kurana, Negombo. She was carrying a document issued to her by the local Grama Sevaka. “I have used this same document for banking and financial transactions.
However, this card wasn’t good enough for the polling booth officers,” said a very disappointed would-be voter.
According to CaFFE’s Mr Tenakoon, Negombo candidates from the ruling UPFA had prevented supporters from the opposition from casting their votes, despite a big police presence at the polling stations.Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) group leader Waruna Rajapakse told The Sunday Times that eleventh-hour campaigning conducted in close proximity to polling booths was seen in several parts of the Gampaha district, a brazen violation of election laws.
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| Voting in Gampaha was relatively free of incidents, according to officials. |
He said intimidation tactics by thugs had frightened away polling agents of certain parties, thus giving their rivals a free hand.
Voting in Gampaha was slow in the morning. Officials and observers had expected a turnout of about 55 per cent. They attributed the poor turnout to voter apathy, or rivals “giving up the race” at the last minute.
Gampaha Deputy Inspector General K. P. Pathirana said voting in the district was relatively “peaceful and free”, apart from a few “minor incidents”.
He said the police had strict orders to enforce the election laws and deal firmly with any kind of disruption of the polls. He denied allegations that the police were siding with the government party.
“The orders were out to deal with mischief-makers, regardless of their party connections,” DIG Pathirana said. |
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