SINHALA RACIST REGIME & EC AGAIN REFUSE VOTING RIGHTS TO 1000s OF TAMIL IDPs..!!!???

April Polls: IDPs To Get The Silent Treatment Again
Posted by admin on Mar 14th, 2010

By Cassandra Mascarenhas

Tens of thousands of Internally Displaced People (IDPs) may not be able to vote at the April parliamentary election, just as in January’s presidential poll, election monitors said.

Even the IDPs whose names are included in the 2008 electoral list have problems, as most of the people do not possess identification cards. The Department of Elections has announced that temporary cards are to be issued so that all people will be able to vote.

The Elections Commissioner, Dayananda Dissanayake, has also promised the election monitors that he will look into the situation of the IDPs and will take measures to ensure that the problems they faced during the presidential election, such as the issues with transportation to and from polling booths, will not be repeated this time around.

People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) has requested the Commissioner to set up a Help Desk for the IDPs; however, the Commissioner has yet to get back to them.

“If we get a response to this, we plan to set up this desk next week if possible, as it is important that the IDPs are clear on the procedure to be followed when voting,” said PAFFREL Director Rohana Hettiarachchi.

The Director of the Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) Dr. Paikiasothi Saravanamuttu explained that the CMEV is currently concentrating on keeping the IDPs informed about their voting rights and the procedures that should be followed during the voting itself.

“Our main concern right now is to make sure that the problems that occurred during the presidential election, such as the lack of transport to get to the polling stations, do not happen this time around as well.

Arrangements have once again been made to provide the people with transport and inform them about the procedure to be followed”, he said.

sundayleder.lk