Free and fair election

Image: Tamil people wait to vote as police officers stand guard at a polling station during the northern provincial council election on Sept. 21, 2013 in Jaffna, Sri Lanka.Buddhika Weerasinghe/Getty Images. TNA  Member of Parliament M. A. Sumanthiran is to move   adjournment Motion in Parliament on the 6th of July which says that ” if it is not possible […]

Image: The burden of elections; A government servant carries a ballot box! ( Daily FT photo) The political turmoil and the prolonged period of uncertainty in Sri Lanka that followed the February 10 local government elections appear to have subsided, but the urgent measures needed to address its causes are yet to be taken. If […]

The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, recognizing the right of every citizen to vote, to freely engage in political activities and the right to free and fair elections under the Constitution of Sri Lanka (1978) and international human rights norms, adopted the following guidelines to be observed by all Police Officers during the run-up […]

Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka Secretary to HE President, Secretary to Hon. Prime Minister, All Secretaries to Ministries, All Chief Secretaries to Provincial Councils, Directives pertaining to activities of public officers and officers of the Provincial Public Service in connection with the Local Authority Election 2018: According to Article 17O of the Constitution of Sri […]

Issuing a statement on the Central Bank Bond issue election monitoring orgnisation CaFFE has clearly taken  a political position that goes against one of the main political parties contesting upcoming local government elections in Sri Lanka. The statement questions that whether Prime Minster  ( leader of the United National Party)  is suitable to lead the country: […]

Image: President Sirisena does not have a six year presidential term, says CPA. CPA Statement in Response to Supreme Court Reference 01/2018. The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) made representations  on 11 January 2018 behalf of itself and its Executive Director, Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, intervening in the reference made by President Maithripala Sirisena to the Supreme […]

By C. A. Chandraprema. The rejection of the nomination lists of several political parties and independent groups made headlines during the nominations period for the local government elections to be held on 10 February. The rejection of the nominations lists of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna gained more publicity than the other rejections because of […]

Image: WMC meets and trains women candidates from Kurunagala who received nominations for the upcoming Local Government elections. ( credit @womenandmedia )  By UCAN By Niranjani Roland and Quintus Colombage. Rural Sri Lankan women have a better chance to fight for their rights by winning positions in local government. More rural women will stand in local elections on […]

Image: PM Wickremesinghe  singed the proposed criteria for media to be presented to parliament. Today the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe  signed the proposed criteria for media to be presented to parliament on the conduct of an unbiased and just election according to the constitution. The Election Commission published 32 criteria to media, through a gazette notification […]

Image courtesy of News  Radio. Issuing a joint statement Mavai Senathirajah  of ITAK  Hon. Selvam Adikkalanathan  of TELO and Hon. Dharmalingham Siddarththan  PLOTE, says that  they will contest upcoming local government election as alliance, under the name of  Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) Full text of the press release: The Tamil National Alliance Constituent party leaders Hon. […]

August 29th 2017, Colombo, Sri Lanka: A Bill titled ‘The Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution’ (the Bill) was placed on the Order Paper of Parliament on 23rd August 2017. The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) and its Executive Director filed a Petition on 28th August 2017 in the Supreme Court, stating that the Bill can only be passed in Parliament with […]

Image: I was PM Wickremsinghe who submitted the 20th Amendment draft to the cabinet.  The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins its affiliate, the Free Media Movement (FMM), in insisting that the Sri Lankan Government immediately reveal its position on the various statements currently circulating about the postponement of local government and provincial council elections. […]

Keerthi Tennakoon. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is attempting to delay elections through coming up with bogus ‘constitutional amendments’, Keerthi Tennakoon says adding that the gazette on the draft bills on the 20th Constitutional amendment, issued on July 28, is an attempt to delay the holding of Provincial Council elections until October 2019, when the tenure […]

It will be an uphill task for the Government to reverse the rising trend in prices, particularly essentials that have a crippling effect on middle and low income groups. Their burdens, there is no gainsaying, would increase should the economic situation take a bad turn. Drought no doubt has dealt a striking blow. That is […]

Image:  S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole. Member of Sri Lanka’s election commission, S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole is predicting long over due local government results and thretening to disrupt election process if he is not provided more finacial allowences. He was nominated by the TNA to the election commision although he did not apply to be apointed to […]

( Election commissioner warning state media on bias reporting: Cartoon by Lankaenews) Parliament is set to approve on Wednesday, strict guidelines to be followed and policies to be adhered to by the electronic and print media at future elections and referendums in the country. These will include a prohibition on the use of the National […]

Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) in Sri Lanka has presented  a collection of cartoon portrayals published by all the national newspapers in all three languages during the Presidential and the General Election time period) about Mr. Mahinda Deshapriya. It was awarded by Dr. P. Saravanamuttu, the co-convener of CMEV and the executive director of […]

About one year has passed since the terms of local government councils have expired. However, no election has been announced. Majority of the local government councils ended their terms on 31st December last year. After that day the period of councils with councilors was extended until 15th May. As such, those local government councils should […]

(Commonwealth Observer Group in Sri Lanka) The Commonwealth Secretariat today released the final report of the Commonwealth Observer Group to Sri Lanka’s 2015 Parliamentary Elections. Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma made the observers’ findings public after they were sent to the Government, Commissioner of Elections and political parties following the elections. Writing in the foreword to […]

The Supreme Court yesterday called for the Auditor General’s report pertaining to distribution of “Sil Redi” (fabrics used by devotees to observe sill) during the 2015 Presidential election campaign and directed the Attorney General to submit the concerned report in Court on or before March 31. The Supreme Court two-Judge-Bench comprising Chief Justice K. Sripavan […]

( Press release: “Silenced: survivors of torture and sexual violence in 2015”  ) Johannesburg: New evidence has emerged of on-going torture and sexual violence by the Sri Lankan security forces one year after a new government came to power promising a radical clean up. “Sadly Sri Lanka’s notorious ‘white vans’ are still operating; it’s very […]

Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka has written to the Government of Sri Lanka advising to that the Government withdraw the proposed amendment to the penal Code and substitute it with the relevant  provision of the  ICCPR Act of 2007. The letter sent by the HRC-SL  to the  PM  is given below: Hon. Prime Minister, […]

Here are brief accounts of district wise performances by candidates at Monday’s parliamentary elections: COLOMBO DISTRICT: Almost a reverse of the 2010 parliamentary elections. This time the UNP secured 53 per cent as against 36.1 percent in 2010. The UPFA obtained 39.2 percent of the votes as against the 53 percent. The UNP returned 11 […]

The UNP received a total of 5,098,916 votes and won 106 seats including 13 from the national list, thereby becoming the largest single party in the next parliament. The UPFA won 4,732,664 votes and won 95 seats with 12 national list seats. The ITAK won 16 seats including 2 from the national list while the […]

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa accepted defeat at the 2015 General Election, AFP reported a short while ago. ““My dream of becoming prime minister has faded away,” Rajapaksa told AFP. “I am conceding. We have lost a good fight.” He added that he will work as an opposition Member of Parliament. According to results already released, […]

(CMEV) Profile of Major Incidents At the end of the campaign on August 14th, 2015, CMEV received 810 complaints of which 143 were classified as Major.  Of the latter category, Murder was recorded at 04, Hurt at 05, Grievous Hurt at 03, Assaults at 46, Threat and Intimidation at 08, Misuse of State Resources at […]

Over 15 million voters across 22 electoral districts will go to the polls tomorrow to elect 225 Members of Parliament (MPs) in the country’s 15th General election since 1947. The Colombo District will return the largest for a single district with 19 MPs, while Tricomalee will return the lowest number of 4 MPs. Postal-voting-in-Puttalam-Pics-Hiran-Priyankara Colombo -19 […]

The team of professionals who had   provided  a very near accurate election forecast at the last Presidential elections has again sent their forecast for the 2015 General Elections. This is not based on some intelligent guesswork but on in depth study of the situation prevailing in the several Districts. In this forecast the JVP […]

The Friday Forum has, in recent statements, stressed factors and issues we consider important, when voting at an election, which is of critical importance for our country’s future. We note the comparatively violence and intimidation free manner in which campaigns have been conducted this time. We need to recognise that this is largely due to […]

General Election 2015: Estimated Results by TK Research & Solution (Pvt) Ltd. Read the revised report here: Estimated Results 12-08-2015 with Bonus Seat Allocation First of all, we would like to thank all the respondents who participated both online and offline surveys. Total no of registered voters for General Election, will be 15,044,490 and it […]