Extra security in six districts; maximum force against offenders

Additional police, including Special Task Force personnel, have been deployed to provide extra security in six districts during tomorrow’s general elections.

Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya told the Sunday Times the districts were identified on reports from election monitors who had suggested that security be intensified in these areas.

The Mannar, Vavuniya, Puttalam, Kandy, Kalutara and Anuradhapura districts, Kantankudy and Valaichchenai in the Batticaloa district and Sainthamaruthu in the Ampara district are the areas where security will be intensified.

The Commissioner said he had discussed the matter with the Police Chief who had agreed to provide extra police security, including STF personnel in the high-risk areas.

He said he had ordered that if any attempt was made to disrupt the voting in a polling booth, the Police should use maximum force to control the situation.

More than 75,000 police and STF personnel are being deployed for the elections.

Two policemen will be deployed in each of the 12,399 booths while 5,700 policemen will be deployed

for patrolling. In addition more than 1,300 police personnel will be in the riot squad, ready for any contingency.

Police will also set up more than 220 road blocks island wide on election day tomorrow.

Each of the 67 counting centres throughout the island will have more than 60 police personnel guarding them in addition to STF personnel in the vicinity.

At least 30,000 local monitors representing the local election watchdogs and around 200 international election observers representing global institutions will be monitoring tomorrow’s parliamentary elections where some 15 million people are eligible to vote.

On the invitation of the Elections Commissioner, international observers from the Commonwealth Secretariat, the European Union (EU), the Forum of the Election Management Bodies of South Asia (FEMBoSA) and the Asian Network For Free Elections (ANFREL) have come here to monitor the polls.

Around 125,000 officials will be deployed for election duty tomorrow while more than 70,000 officers will be engaged in the counting of votes.