2nd complaint filed against President over alleged election law violations
The Elections Commission has received a second complaint against President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, alleging that he violated election laws during the ongoing local councils campaign.The watchdog body, Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV), submitted its complaint on Friday, following its first complaint, for which, it says, it has not received an acknowledgement so far, though it was filed on April 2. This week’s complaint cites six new allegations against the President.
In its original complaint, the CMEV cited speeches by President Dissanayake on March 29 in Tissamaharama and March 31 in Buttala. The six additional incidents referred to speeches in Kandy on April 10, Akkaraipattu and Sammanthurai on April 11, Kantale and Batticaloa on April 12, and in Mannar on April 17.
According to the CMEV, during all of these NPP election rallies, President Dissanayake stated that if the NPP representatives were not in control of local councils, the financial needs of such councils would be delayed or not fulfilled at all. In all these speeches, the President claimed that the government could not ensure funding because it did not trust representatives from other parties and would have to scrutinise non-NPP proposals as many as ten times, but the proposals from the NPP, headed by its own representatives, would be accepted and funded without question.
Referring to the speeches, CMEV’s Chief Operating Officer, Professor Arjuna Parakrama, told the Sunday Times, “In every one of the eight rallies, the President repeatedly said that they would allocate the money ‘with their eyes closed’ only to the NPP proposals, which is simply unlawful. This phrase implies that for any resources needed, whether for roads, buildings, irrigation channels, schools, or otherwise, the voter has no choice but to vote only for the NPP.
Prof. Parakrama said they considered this a serious and clear violation of Sections 82C (Undue Influence) and 82D (Bribery) of the Local Authorities Election Ordinance (as revised), which prompted them to submit their complaint for the second time.
He added that they believed the Election Commission would intervene and ensure that appropriate action was taken to prevent such violations from recurring during the ongoing election campaign period, as these breaches could negatively affect the conduct of a free and fair local council election.
When the Sunday Times contacted Election Commissioner General of Elections Saman Sri Ratnayake, he said that while the CMEV was a respected election observation body and had raised concerns with the relevant authorities multiple times earlier in the election process, he believed it should have also forwarded the complaint directly to the Presidential Secretariat to avoid any delay.He added that many officers in the Election Commission’s legal division had been preoccupied with court cases in recent weeks, particularly those concerning disputes over rejected nominations. This, he said, had created a tense and contentious environment within the Commission. As a result, the delay in acknowledging the CMEV’s complaint and in forwarding the letter to the Presidential Secretariat may have been an unintentional human error, he said.
EC Chairman R.M.A.L. Rathnayake told the Sunday Times, “We are planning to bring this issue to the attention of the Commission at the upcoming general meeting scheduled for April 21 and expect to consider the matter during the discussions with all Commission members and hope to arrive at an appropriate solution on that day.”
