Fears of election rigging taking place in Sri Lanka’s Northeast expressed by European monitors last week gained weight this week as continuing apathy amongst Tamil voters suggested turnouts might be low.
Leading Sri Lankan papers said names of deceased voters and those who had immigrated abroad were still on the electoral register.
The Sunday Leader reported the Liberation Tigers had protested to election monitors over the failure to update the register.
Jaffna’s Government Agent K. Ganesh said he was certain the names of the dead had been deleted, but admits that the district’s estimated population was only 600,000 while some 701,000 people have registered as electors.
Election monitors are concerned that in the close race between the two leading contenders, election fraud by Arm-backed paramilitaries may play a crucial role, particularly in conflict-wracked Batticaloa district.
‘What has happened in previous elections is that there was serious malpractice in a number of areas, but it wasn’t enough to affect the overall result. [But] in a very close run presidential contest, it could make a very significant difference,’ Chief EU election monitor John Cushnahan told Reuters.
‘I’m worried what will happen in the north and east. There’s been a lot of speculation over what Karuna will do,’ Cushnahan said referring to the former Tiger commander who defected to the Army after his failed rebellion against the LTTE.
In Jaffna, the paramilitary Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP), which has a history of electoral fraud, is campaigning for Premier Mahinda Rajapakse, ironically the Sinhala nationalists’ candidate of choice.
But the Sunday Times newspaper suggested that LTTE might be intending to rig the polls, claiming in Jaffna residents have been requested by the Tigers to register those deceased or living abroad.
The LTTE has said that they are uninterested in the election since neither Rajapakse nor his main rival, Ranil Wickremesinghe, are going to address Tamil interests.
On the day of the election, PAFFREL intends to deploy 20,000 election monitors island-wide with 1500 mobile units.
In addition to this, the European Union plans to send 72 experts to join observers from Asia, the Commonwealth, and around 33,000 local officials in monitoring the election in the violence-prone island.
Discussions are ongoing to securely provide 81 cluster polling booths in government-held territory for the 100,000 voters in LTTE-held areas.
Election Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake says he will not hesitate to cancel voting in the North and East if any irregularities are reported, and hold a re-run in these regions two days later.
Leading Sri Lankan papers said names of deceased voters and those who had immigrated abroad were still on the electoral register.
The Sunday Leader reported the Liberation Tigers had protested to election monitors over the failure to update the register.
Jaffna’s Government Agent K. Ganesh said he was certain the names of the dead had been deleted, but admits that the district’s estimated population was only 600,000 while some 701,000 people have registered as electors.
Election monitors are concerned that in the close race between the two leading contenders, election fraud by Arm-backed paramilitaries may play a crucial role, particularly in conflict-wracked Batticaloa district.
‘What has happened in previous elections is that there was serious malpractice in a number of areas, but it wasn’t enough to affect the overall result. [But] in a very close run presidential contest, it could make a very significant difference,’ Chief EU election monitor John Cushnahan told Reuters.
‘I’m worried what will happen in the north and east. There’s been a lot of speculation over what Karuna will do,’ Cushnahan said referring to the former Tiger commander who defected to the Army after his failed rebellion against the LTTE.
In Jaffna, the paramilitary Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP), which has a history of electoral fraud, is campaigning for Premier Mahinda Rajapakse, ironically the Sinhala nationalists’ candidate of choice.
But the Sunday Times newspaper suggested that LTTE might be intending to rig the polls, claiming in Jaffna residents have been requested by the Tigers to register those deceased or living abroad.
The LTTE has said that they are uninterested in the election since neither Rajapakse nor his main rival, Ranil Wickremesinghe, are going to address Tamil interests.
On the day of the election, PAFFREL intends to deploy 20,000 election monitors island-wide with 1500 mobile units.
In addition to this, the European Union plans to send 72 experts to join observers from Asia, the Commonwealth, and around 33,000 local officials in monitoring the election in the violence-prone island.
Discussions are ongoing to securely provide 81 cluster polling booths in government-held territory for the 100,000 voters in LTTE-held areas.
Election Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake says he will not hesitate to cancel voting in the North and East if any irregularities are reported, and hold a re-run in these regions two days later.
