Pre-poll violations on the rise in Sri Lanka

With a few days remaining for Sri Lanka’s presidential polls, election violations have increased in the past seven days across the Indian Ocean island state.
According to the People’s Action for Free and Fair Election (PAFFRE), an independent election monitoring group, it received 612 complaints related to violations of election laws. PAFFRE’s Executive Director Rohana Hettiarachchi said 85 percent of the complaints came with substantial evidence. Members of both the ruling alliance and the common opposition front were flouting election laws, he added.
The Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) issued another report saying its media unit received 1,029 complaints till Friday. CaFFE’s media unit said 105 of the complaints were of election related violence while the 924 others were about election law violations.
The group has given full details of the violence and violations raising questions as to whether the campaign is free and fair or whether the people’s right to make an informed choice is being spin-doctored by sophisticated bribery or corruption and marred by violence or threats of violence.
The widely held belief that people are losing confidence in the independence of the police service is perhaps reflected in the number of complaints made to it. Even a deputy minister was arrested for alleged election violence.
Police Media Spokesman Ajith Rohana said the police received 214 complaints till Friday. He said 92 people were arrested on charges of flouting election laws but released on bail.
With the election campaign getting heated up daily, more crossovers are expected in the next 72 hours from the main contesting parties.
The opposition said several heavyweights of the ruling party, who hold cabinet portfolios, have agreed to join the Common Opposition before Monday. They are expected to show up at the final election rally of the Common candidate Maithripala Sirisena, which will take place on Monday.