Sri Lanka Parliamentary Elections 2 April 2004
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SRI LANKA PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS 2 April 2004 EUROPEAN UNION ELECTION OBSERVATION MISSION FINAL REPORT Table of Contents Executive Summary___________________________________________________ 1 Recommendations____________________________________________________ 3 Legal Issues_____________________________________________________________ 3 Election Administration Issues _____________________________________________ 4 Political Parties Issues ____________________________________________________ 5 Media Issues ____________________________________________________________ 5 Domestic Observers ______________________________________________________ 5 Women’s participation ___________________________________________________ 5 1. Acknowledgments___________________________________________________ 6 2. Objectives of the Final Report_________________________________________ 6 3. Legal Framework___________________________________________________ 7 3.1 The shape of the Institutions ____________________________________________ 7 3.2 The 17th Amendment to the Constitution _________________________________ 7 3.3 The Commissioner of Elections__________________________________________ 7 3.4 The National Police Commission ________________________________________ 8 3.5 The Parliamentary Elections Act ________________________________________ 8 3.6 Electoral System______________________________________________________ 8 4. Pre-Election Phase__________________________________________________ 9 4.1 Political Background __________________________________________________ 9 4.2 Election Administration_______________________________________________ 11 4.2.1 Voter Registration________________________________________________________ 11 4.2.2 Registration of Candidates _________________________________________________ 12 4.3 The Policing of the Election____________________________________________ 12 4.4 The Electoral Campaign ______________________________________________ 13 4.5 The Media __________________________________________________________ 14 4.5.1 Legal Framework ________________________________________________________ 14 4.5.2 Media Monitoring ________________________________________________________ 16 4.6 Election-Related Violence _____________________________________________ 19 5. Polling and Results ________________________________________________ 19 5.1. Postal voting________________________________________________________ 19 5.2 Election Day Observation _____________________________________________ 20 5.2.1 Voter identification _______________________________________________________ 21 5.2.2 Voting in cluster polling stations ____________________________________________ 21 5.2.3 Internally Displaced Voters_________________________________________________ 22 5.3 Counting ___________________________________________________________ 23 5.4 Election-Related Violence _____________________________________________ 23 5.5 Results _____________________________________________________________ 24 5.5.1 Translation of Preferences into Seats _________________________________________ 25 This report was produced by the EU Election Observation Mission and presents the EUEOM’s findings on the Parliamentary elections in Sri Lanka. These views have not been adopted or in any way approved by the Commission and should not be relied upon as a statement of the Commission. The European Commission does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this report, nor does it accept responsibility for any use made thereof. 5.5.2 Cost per seat ____________________________________________________________ 26 6. Post-Election Phase ________________________________________________ 26 6.1 Re-polling __________________________________________________________ 26 6.2 Petitions and Fundamental Rights Applications___________________________ 28 6.3 Post-Election Political Developments ____________________________________ 29 6.4 Election-Related Violence _____________________________________________ 29 7. Domestic Observers ________________________________________________ 30 8. Women’s Participation in the Electoral Process _________________________ 30 8.1 In the Election Administration _________________________________________ 30 8.2 In the Election Campaign _____________________________________________ 30 8.3 As Candidates, MPs and Ministers______________________________________ 31 List of Acronyms ____________________________________________________ 32 Annexes ___________________________________________________________ 34 Annex 1: Diagram of Policing of the Elections _______________________________ 34 Annex 2 – Media________________________________________________________ 35 Media Landscape _____________________________________________________________ 35 Media Monitoring Data ________________________________________________________ 37 Pre election period (15 – 30 March 2004)________________________________________ 37 Post election period (6 – 20 April 2004) _________________________________________ 44 The Competent Authority ______________________________________________________ 46 Annex 3: Vote cost per seat _______________________________________________ 57 Women’s participation_________________________________________________________ 58 This report was produced by the EU Election Observation Mission and presents the EUEOM’s findings on the Parliamentary elections in Sri Lanka. These views have not been adopted or in any way approved by the Commission and should not be relied upon as a statement of the Commission. The European Commission does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this report, nor does it accept responsibility for any use made thereof. EU Election Observation Mission Sri Lanka 2004 1 Final Report on the Parliamentary Elections Executive Summary Political Background The leader of the United National Party (UNP), Ranil Wickramasinghe, was elected Prime Minister following the December 2001 General Election. After the elections the new government made a fresh attempt to negotiate a lasting solution to Sri Lanka's twenty year ethnic conflict which had already resulted in the loss of 65,000 lives. In late December, the LTTE (Tamil Tigers) declared a unilateral ceasefire. The positive response from the new government led to a Permanent Ceasefire Agreement being signed between the two parties on February 22nd 2002. However, the change in government brought with it a new political dimension - cohabitation government. The executive president, Chandrika Kumaratunga was part of the People’s Alliance (PA), which had formed the outgoing government. Consequently cohabitation proved difficult to operate in practice which did not facilitate progress in the peace process. Attempts to negotiate a compromise between the President and the Prime Minister failed and the President dissolved the parliament in February 2004 and called a general election. This was Sri Lanka's third general election in just over three years. It was also the third occasion that the EU was invited by Sri Lanka's Commissioner of Elections to send an Election Observation Team. The EUEOM arrived in Sri Lanka on 7 March and departed Sri Lanka on 2 May . Election Violence The previous Observation Missions witnessed major violence and serious electoral abuse in the 2000 and 2001 elections. In contrast, the 2004 election represented a vast improvement. Nevertheless, by the end of the 2004 campaign, five people had been murdered, fifteen were seriously injured and over 2000 cases of election violence had been reported. During the 2004 elections the major incidences of violence originated with the LTTE, whereas in the earlier elections, the primary source of the violence (although not all) were the country's two largest political parties. However, tension between them still resulted in some violence this time, especially in Kurunegella and Digamadulla at the end of the election campaign A number of factors contributed to the overall improvement. In the 2000/2001 elections, the rule of law was not enforced impartially. This created an election environment which experienced unacceptable violence and intimidation. In contrast, policing of the 2004 campaign and Election Day was much less politicized. During the campaign the police also enforced the prohibition of posters and political processions, removing potential flashpoints and therefore contributing to a substantial decrease in election-related violence. The combined effect of the establishment of a National Police Commission and the determination of the Commissioner of Elections contributed to the substantial improvement. EU Election Observation Mission Sri Lanka 2004 2 Final Report on the Parliamentary Elections Some have argued that the division of power between the president and the prime minister also helped. The reason for the LTTE motivated violence was due to two factors. Firstly, the LTTE intended that no other rival Tamil party (or Tamil candidate from the mainstream political alliances) to the TNA would be able to claim to represent Tamil interests. A chilling message to this effect was sent early in the campaign when a UNP candidate and an EPDP activist were murdered. Incidents such as this seriously restricted the right of parties other than the TNA to campaign freely in the North and East. Secondly, the split between the LTTE in the North and East exacerbated the situation resulting in the murder of a TNA candidate, the attempted murder of the government agent of Batticaloa and the forced displacements of Northern Tamils out of Batticaloa.