18,000 Cheddikku’lam refugees stripped of voting rights in local elections

The Sri Lanka’s Commissioner of Elections has confirmed that about 18,000 people who are still held in Chettikulam camp cannot cast their votes in the forthcoming local elections as the election authority has no provision to ensure voting rights under the existing local election law, according to Executive Director of Peoples Action for Free and Fair Election (PAFFREL). PAFFREL Director revealed this to media after a meeting with Commissioner of Elections along with secretaries of political parties held recently. About three thousand IDPs in Puththalam would also be deprived of their voting rights, PAFFREL added.

Meanwhile, the election related violence in the south is on the increase, according to the Network for Election Monitoring of the Intellectuals for Human Rights (NEMIHR), the Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CAFFE) and PAFFREL, three leading election monitoring groups.

NEMIHR said 442 violent incidents had been reported so far and the highest number of incidents is from the Kurunegala district and the rest are from the districts of Hambantota, Kalutara, Galle and Gampaha.

All thee monitoring groups said that they have made necessary arrangements to monitor the postal voting that has been scheduled for March 8 and 9.

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