April 8 general election not free and fair: Monitoring Group CaFFe

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 April 2010, 09:27 GMT]
The Sri Lankan parliamentary election held on April 8 was not free and fair as the government flagrantly violated the poll law because the rule and law did not prevail, an election monitoring group, the Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFe) has said. The Director of CaFFe Keerthi Tennakoon has told media that while ruling party candidates violated every clause in the Elections Act, the Police and Elections Commissioner simply looked on.

“In Nawalapitiya on April 8 soon after the polling began government supporters deployed by a minister had chased away opposition polling agents in about 30 voting centers and began impersonating voters. But until 4.30 p.m. nothing was done to arrest the situation. If the Elections Commissioner and Police acted in the morning, there would have been no need for a re-poll," he said.