May 08, Colombo: The National Peace Council yesterday issuing a media communique viewed the forthcoming elections as an opportunity for the government to demonstrate its commitment to the democratic process as part and parcel of its strategy to resolve the ethnic conflict in a just and democratic manner.

“So far the level of violence has been relatively low which is a positive feature that we hope will continue until election day on May 10 and in the post-election period. However, available evidence indicates that campaigning was carried out under a security environment not conducive to a free and fair election,” it said.

Full text of the statement follows:

The relative fairness of an election cannot be determined solely by considering what occurs on election day, as there are a number of other factors which can affect the citizen's and political parties' ability to participate effective in the democratic process.

One of the controversial features of the elections is that the TMVP, which is a former militant organization continues to retain its arms on the grounds of self defense. In addition, the TMVP is contesting in alliance with the government, which has put the system of checks and balances on electoral malpractice into jeopardy.

The basic requirement for a free and fair election is that all the contesting parties are unarmed and not in a position to intimidate both their political rivals as well as voters who will be fearful to cross the path of the armed party. Election monitoring organizations even filed action in the courts calling for the disarming of the TMVP for the purposes of conducting free and fair elections but without success due to the absence of jurisdiction of the courts in this matter.

Reports from the opposition political parties contesting the eastern elections, and from election monitors and the media, have highlighted a significant level of intimidation that has obstructed the electoral campaigns of the opposition parties. There are allegations that the TMVP has been intimidating its political rivals and put them into such a state of fear that they dare not campaign in areas in which the TMVP has its armed presence. The very low level of campaigning by opposition parties in some parts of the east has been independently verified by election monitors and the media. These same sources have also reported that in some instances polling cards have not been delivered to voters and that the TMVP has been issuing identity cards on its own, which could be used to fraudulently cast votes.

The National Peace Council urges the government to ensure that the election officials and police are suitably empowered to deal with any and all attempts made to tamper with the electoral process on May 10. We believe that having elections in the east, accepting some flaws, is an important step towards empowering the people in the east to democratically determine their future. But we wish to register our concern that an electoral process marked by intimidation, unless rectified even in these last days, will undermine the democratic processes that are necessary to restore peace and ethnic harmony in the country and can lead to a further marginalizing and alienation of disempowered ethnic minorities.