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Election Related Violence - General Elections 2000
report by Centre for Monitoring Election Violence, 9 October 2000

At the close of the campaign, CMEV has recorded 1726 incidents of violence, of which 940 (54.5%) are Major incidents and 786 (45.5%) are Minor ones. The run-up to the General Election became increasingly violent during the last week, totaling 664 incidents of which October 7^th and 8^th accounted for 134 and 119 respectively. The 33-day election campaign resulted in an average of 52.3, while the last week averaged 94.9 incidents per day.

It is clear that the level of violence has increased both qualitatively and quantitatively in the past two weeks, resulting in 62.1% of all incidents recorded so far, for 80.3% of the Murders and 65.4% of Attempted Murders reported in the entire campaign.

The cumulative count of incidents reported to CMEV so far, and their disaggregation by type and alleged perpetrator is as follows:

SUMMARY OF INCIDENTS REPORTED IN
GENERAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN (•)
(•) This summary contains the total number of incidents together with a breakdown of the alleged violations of the two major contenders and those of unknown political affiliation. The small numbers of incidents alleged against other parties have been left out for the sake of brevity.

[*41 of these murders are believed to the result of LTTE suicide attacks.]

Of these 1726 complaints, 751 (43.5%) were reported by supporters of the UNP, 526 (30.5%) by supporters of the PA, 198 (11.5%) by the JVP, and 118 (06.8%) by persons without any known political affiliation. 117 (22.2%) of the PA’s 526 complaints were directed against supporters of the PA itself, the only significant examples of intra-party rivalry recorded in this campaign.

The PA’s alleged share of the violence is 882 incidents or 51.1% which is more than two-and-a-half times the UNP’s contribution of 328 (19.0%). Persons of unknown political affiliation are being held accountable for 429 (24.9%), and the JVP for 12 incidents. In terms of the major incidents alone, the PA is allegedly responsible for 55% and the UNP for 19%. If you consider only the major incidents in which the alleged perpetrator has been identified, the PA and UNP taken together account for 93.7% of all complaints.

Regionally, the Western and North-Western remain the most violent areas, recording 356 and 256 incidents respectively. Sabaragamuwa has recorded the least number of incidents among the provinces, but it too has produced 127 incidents, where the violence is concentrated in certain electorates such as Rambukkana and Aranayake. A significant increase in violations was recorded in the last two weeks from the North-East Province, making it the fifth in order of violence with 191 incidents, behind the Central (223) and Uva (212) provinces. The North Central and Southern Provinces have recorded 180 and 181 incidents respectively.

In terms of districts, Gampaha has produced 162 incidents, Kurunegala 140, Colombo 121, Badulla 118, Kandy and Puttalam 116 each, Anuradhapura 99, Digamadulla 96, Moneragala 94 and Kegalle 90. Outside the North-East, the lowest number of incidents has been recorded from Ratnapura (37) and Galle (49), but the types of incidents recorded even in these areas do not leave any room for complacency as regards polling day. In general, the escalation of violence has affected all of the districts adversely, creating a climate of tension and fear among ordinary voters.

Assessment of Electoral Divisions on the Basis of Election Campaign Violence

Based on monitors’ reports, international observer assessments, police complaints and follow-up, CMEV has determined that the level and intensity of violence in the following electorates has been so high during the campaign as to render a free and fair election in these areas unlikely. These 19 electorates have been so flawed during the campaign, the voters so intimidated that the final outcome of voting may be significantly distorted.

This assessment does not, however, include those areas in which the poll is non-viable due to the current war. The entire election is a sham and a fraud in the Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu electorates, as well as in the "uncleared" areas and regions of current conflict and civilian displacement in the Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Mannar and Jaffna districts. It is estimated that approximately 200 polling centres which should cater to 250,000 registered voters will be relocated in areas utterly inaccessible to the legitimate voters in these areas.

In addition, in the following electorates extensive pre-election violence, including the systematic intimidation of voters, is of sufficient magnitude to contaminate the election result even if no further violations take place on October 10^th. However, both these 29 electorates and those 19 listed above comprise the areas in which CMEV anticipates the most significant violence and violations during the polling.

Allegations Against Individual Politicians

CMEV has received two or more complaints against the following politicians and/or their supporters.

Attack on Party Offices

CMEV has received complaints that 141 regional and local party offices have been attacked during the campaign. Though many of these are, in fact, makeshift structures and not officially registered offices, it is nonetheless a serious indicator of the level and extent of violence that such a significant number of these incidents have been reported, since the violence seeks to strike at the very heart of an opponent’s election campaign.

It is also significant that the otherwise relatively less violent Southern Province has recorded the highest incidence of attacks on rival party offices, and this may be a more accurate indicator of the electoral climate than the mere aggregate of incidents. A notable feature of these attacks is the reluctance of the aggrieved party to make an official police complaint.

A number of reasons have been adduced to explain this, which include the fact that many of these offices are not officially registered. CMEV, however, considers the main reason to be the fact that none of the parties wish to acknowledge their weakness vis-à-vis another, and in this sense to make official complaints will be to publicise their vulnerability as well as, in their view, to give added importance to the incident.

CMEV’s previous reports have highlighted issues related to police involvement in election violence as well as the partisan attitude displayed by some police officers towards the People’s Alliance (See Press Communique of Monday, October 2, 2000). CMEV has also written in detail on the situation in the North-East Province, and particularly in the Jaffna District (See Press Communiques of Tuesday, September 12, 2000, Wednesday, September 20, 2000, and Monday, October 2, 2000). Since these concerns remain substantially unaltered the current report will not dwell on them though CMEV reiterates the crucial role that both police partiality and the ongoing war has and will play in subverting a free and fair general election on October 10, 2000.

In summary it should be noted that the campaign phase of the 2000 General Election has proved to be both qualitatively and quantitatively more violent than the 1999 Presidential Election, where the total number of incidents reported was 1483 of which only 48% were Major ones. Though CMEV did not monitor the 1994 General Election, available data indicate that the current election is more violent.

CMEV reiterates its position that party leaders owe a public responsibility to ensure that their candidates and supporters refrain from violating election laws. The increased violence of this campaign, the impunity with which the perpetrators blatantly flout both the law and the norms of civilised society, the manner in which the rival media groups and particularly the state-controlled media manipulate election-related coverage, the rampant misuse of state resources, all point to the active culpability of the political leadership in this country in the creation of an environment that cannot be deemed conducive to a free and fair exercise of the public franchise.

Dr. P. Saravanamuttu CMEV

Bandula Padmakumara CMEV

Dr. Arjuna Parakrama CMEV

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