Wednesday, 21 August 2013 00:00
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Election Monitors yesterday called on the political leadership to prevent candidates from attending events organised by the security forces after UPFA candidate for the Northern provincial poll M. Remedius was found attending an event organised by the army in Nawanthurai in Jaffna on Monday (19).
The Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) said the army that is responsible for ensuring security should not involve themselves in elections that is an intrinsic part of civil administration. “This was reiterated during a discussion between the Commissioner of Elections and leaders of political parties where it was agreed that security forces should not be involved in election related activities. The Department of Elections also agreed not to involve army personnel in any part of the electoral process,” CaFFE said in a statement about the incident.
The monitors said when Elections Department personnel arrived at the meeting to investigate a complaint they received, there was a conflict of opinion between elections officials and army personnel.
“This is a serious issue as CaFFE is of the opinion that elections officials and the security forces should have a similar opinion about election related matters to ensure a free and fair election,” the polls monitors said.
CaFFE said it believes that the Commissioner of Elections who is currently visiting the North will give the matter the attention it deserves and ease the tension.
Remedius is a lawyer by profession and has an excellent understanding of election laws; however he has attempted to gain undue political mileage by attending an event organised by the army. CaFFE believes that all political party leaders and general secretaries must take action to prevent similar incidents from reccurring.
