10,000 monitors for local council polls
More than 10,000 election monitors will be deployed during the upcoming local council polls across 14,000 polling stations in the country, election watchdogs said.
With no international monitors deployed this time, local election watchdogs have decided to coordinate their work and deploy monitors in all polling stations.
The People's Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL), one of the two election monitoring bodies granted approval by the Election Commission (EC) to access polling booths, is expected to deploy 8,000 election monitors across the country.
"We are having discussions with other election monitoring bodies for cooperation where we don't have to deploy several monitors to a single polling centre and monitors can be deployed in an organised pattern," PAFFREL chief Rohana Hettiyarachchi said.
Another election watch- Inspector General of Police ( IGP) on Friday (29), election watchdog People's Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) handed over a list it claimed dog recognised to deploy its agents in polling centers, Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV), said it would deploy 5,000 monitors in consultation with other such movements.
With about 900,000 of registered voters suffering from various disabilities, CMEV National Coordinator oManjula Kajanayake said they were working with the Election Commission to provide proper access for them at polling stations. contains details of candidates who allegedly have criminal records. The information was given based on complaints received by the March 12 Movement. PAFFREL said it urged the IGP to probe the allegations against these candidates and to monitor their activities during the election period.
The organisation also urged the IGP to order a probe at police station level, whether individuals involved in criminal activities are being fielded as candidates from their respective areas.
PAFFREL earlier warned that some Samurdhi and Agrarian Services field officers who were now legally prevented from contesting the polls in their areas were attempting to circumvent the law by fielding family members. Having done so, these officers were now miusing their official powers to organise meet- ings for the candidates and to promise voters various incentives through government programmes, PAFFREL claimed in a letter to Elections Commission Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya. Moreover, some family members were even misleading voters by claiming that they would resign if they were to win and pave the way for the former member to take over their post, the election monitor added.