Monitors cry foul over UPFA using prisoners for election work.

Tuesday, 16 December 2014 01:10 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) has condemned the use of prison inmates for election work by the ruling UPFA coalition. In an observation report released yesterday, the monitors said that prisoners had been used by the UPFA for erecting rally platforms, decorating and propaganda work. The prisoners had been given blue jumpsuits to wear while they did election work, the monitors noted. CaFFE said 44 prisoners from the Galle Prison had engaged in election work for the UPFA in Kamburupitiya, Matara on Sunday (14) morning. The polls monitors charged that even though the persons were prisoners, they could be individuals with varying political ideologies. “Making them stakeholders of a political campaign to which they do not subscribe by force is a violation of their political rights,” the monitors charged. CaFFE said such treatment of prisoners could put the inmates under severe mental pressure. “A civilised society does not treat its prisoners like slaves,” the polls monitors said. The monitors also released several photographs as evidence in their report. According to the monitors, the prison band, prison buses and flagpoles had been utilised to organise the Government rally. “This is massive abuse of resources of the Prisons Department for this election,” CaFFE noted in its report. (DB)

Government accuses monitors

The Government yesterday accused local election monitors of being biased and making false allegations against the Government and its election campaign. Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) General Secretary Anura Priyadharshana Yapa, speaking to reporters at a media briefing, said that election monitors are only focused on the Government and not the Opposition. He insisted that the Government will ensure a free fair election and not violate election laws during and before the 8 January presidential election. Local election monitors had written to the Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) raising objections over the use of state buses for the election work of the Government, in violation of election laws. The People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) had told the SLTB that it had received complaints with regards to the use of SLTB buses for election campaigns and rallies of the Government. PAFFREL Executive Director Rohana Hettiarachi has said in a letter to the SLTB that 1100 SLTB buses had reportedly been used for the Anuradhapura rally of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. He said that the Government-owned buses had also been used for another Government election event at Shalika grounds and 500 buses were expected to be used today for an election rally in Panadura. Meanwhile, Anura Priyadharshana Yapa said that there was suspicion over several trips undertaken by members of the joint opposition to Singapore. He said that several Opposition members, including Maithripala Sirisena, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and Ranil Wickremesinghe, had visited Singapore on separate occasions recently. (Colombo Gazette)