At least eleven percent of registered voters expat workers - PAFEREL Chairman

by P. Krishnaswamy

The number of voters registered for the forthcoming Presidential poll is 13.3 million but at least 11 percent of that number are expatriate workers, migrants who had left the country for good and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) living away from their usual places of domicile due to various reasons.

This observation was made by Kingsly Rodrigo, Chairman People's Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) the largest internationally recognised election monitoring organisation of the country. He also expressed fears that election-related violence may be much more in the run up to the presidential poll, compared to the 2004 parliamentary polls. He called upon the security authorities to take all precautionary measures to ensure a violent free poll.

He spoke to the 'Daily News' of the numerous inaccuracies in the 2004 Electoral Register, certain problems that may be encountered in relation to the poll, the shortcomings of the current electoral system and the undue delay in the implementation of the proposed Electoral Reform. Rodrogo said that the presidential poll will be according to the 2004 electoral register since the updating process which commenced on June 1 has not been completed.

Of the total number in the electoral lists , about 800,000 have migrated for good to Western countries,with a good majority of them having obtained citizenship of those countries.

About 1.5 million are in the Middle East and other West Asian countries as expatriate workers who have not been provided any alternative arrangement to exercise their democratic rights back home, Rodrigo said.

They should not be deprived of their right to vote and suitable Absentee Voting System should be implemented, he said. There are several options like voting through our Embassies, High Commissions or postal voting which could be considered, he said.

He further said that: "The two decade long civil war rendered about 850,000 displaced with more than half of them not yet resettled.

"About 500,000 people displaced by the December 26, 2004 tsunami were housed in 768 welfare centres. Although the number of welfare centres has now dwindled to 175, a majority of them have not been resettled in their former homes.

About 300,000 to 400,000 of them continue to live with their friends and relatives although about 50,000 transitional houses have already been constructed. Many of the polling stations which were there during the last parliamentary elections in Mullaitivu, Kalmunai, Trincomalee, Hambantota, Matara and Galle have been washed away in the tsunami disaster. Cluster Polling stations have to be established in place of them.

"About 80,000 Muslims evicted by the LTTE from Mannar and Jaffna are living in Puttlam and other neighbouring areas for the last several years.

They cannot go to their former places to vote.

They were given time till the 3rd of this month to register themselves as voters in the places of their present residence.

If necessary, the PAFFREL would consider making a request to the Elections Commissioner to extend this date."

"About 250,000 are living as IDPs in Polannaruwa and Welikanda border villages without proper arrangements for them to exercise their franchise."

"In the last general election, at least 50,000 impersonations had occurred. This was because the electoral registers were not updated properly, with deletion of names of the dead etc."

Rodrigo also said that PAFFREL would deploy a total 22,000 monitors for the presidential poll, 20,000 as stationary monitors in polling stations and 2000 as mobile monitors.

In addition 100 international observers will also be deployed by them, he said. 25 of the 100 international monitors will be on pre election monitoring from October 7, the day for filing nominations, Rodrigo said.