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| Sunday, 29 February 2004 |
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PAFFREL welcomes foreign assistance by Don Asoka Wijewardena People's Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) is an umbrella organisation which enjoys the unique distinction of having been the first ever citizen-based election watch in Sri Lanka. It was formed by a group of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in 1987 to monitor the Presidential Elections of December 1988. Since then it has monitored all the major elections held in the country. PAFFREL is a non-profit coalition,working to strengthen and expand democracy islandwide, calling on a national network of organisations and volunteers. PAFFREL provides practical assistance to citizens for advancing democratic values. PAFFREL works with democratic and human rights organisations in every district in the island to build political and civic committees, safeguard elections and promote citizens' participation, openness and accountability in governance. PAFFREL has made arrangements to carry out election monitoring in co-ordination with a wide network of grass-roots level organisations,the Movement for Free and Fair Elections (MFFE), the National SEDEC,the Conference of Major Religious Superiors, National Conference on Religion and Peace (NCRP), Marga Institute, Conference of All Ceylon Young Men's Muslim Associations, Centre for Society and Religion, National Peace Council, Community Education Centre and several others of similar inclination. Kingsley Rodrigo, Chairman of PAFFREL, was interviewed by the Sunday Observer regarding election monitoring arrangements in the forthcoming General Elections. Excerpts from the interview: Q: People say that organisations such as yours are dependent on foreign funding and therefore are fulfilling the agendas and interests of foreign organisations and governments. How can you convince Sri Lankans that the PAFFREL programme serves purely the needs and interests of this country? A: Since the establishment of our organisation we have monitored more than 12 elections (both local and general) without a single cent from foreign organisations. In 1999 a number of foreign governments became interested in the activities of our organisation and asked us whether they could be of assistance to us. PAFFREL does not depend on foreign organisations but their assistance is welcomed. Q: From where are you getting funding for this election monitoring programme? Will you be carrying out any specific mandate imposed by these funders? A: First of all I must say that we do not carry out any orders of our funders and PAFFREL does not have a hidden agenda for work. Japan, Canadian High Commission, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom have funded us for election monitoring activities, especially for printing materials like election laws, code of conduct at polling stations and some literature on avoiding election violence. The Japanese government has already granted 30,680 US dollars for us to train observers and print a series of booklets on election law, code of conduct during election and general awareness on the election. Q: Who will be doing the monitoring? Will foreigners be involved, and will the majority of monitors be Sri Lankans? A: Approximately 20,000 observers from Sri Lanka and around 100 foreign observers will be monitoring the elections. Around 10,000 observers are from the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement. Sarvodaya district co-ordinators will work closely with us in monitoring the election. Foreign observers are expected to arrive in the first week of March and the majority of them are human rights activists attached to International Democratic organisations. Q: What aspects of the election process will you monitor? What are the irregularities and violations you will be looking out for? A: Our organisation has already taken an effective measure to monitor the entire election process in four ways. Firstly we monitored the nominations activities and we will monitor election campaigns launched by different political parties. That is one aspect of our programme. We will be closely monitoring the General Election on April 2 by deploying nearly 20,000 local observers and 100 foreign observers. We will also monitor the role played by the Election Commission,political parties and candidates. We will instruct the observers to maintain the highest standard of integrity and impartiality in monitoring and reporting on the election, inform the public of their activities and help to promote public awareness and civic consciousness to prevent election-related violence and malpractices, monitor all contesting political parties and independent groups without any partisan basis, co-ordinate where necessary with the State authorities administering the election as well as all the contesting political parties and groups to promote the conditions essential for a free and fair election, assist voters in every way possible to protect and exercise their right freely, promptly report all violations that they observe to the relevant authorities and take the necessary follow-up action to ensure that these complaints receive due attention and make every effort to verify the authenticity of the complaints received before making all relevant information on election-related violence and malpractices available to the media and the public as early as possible. Q: How will you decide whether an election has been ultimately free and fair or whether it was an illegitimate process? What is the criteria to make this judgement? A: In our country we had to face a civil war and election laws could not be implemented due to various factors. Non of the politicians are taking any action regarding fairness of past elections and as a result of that it was difficult to have a free and fair election. Our criteria is to monitor all aspects of the election process to see whether any activity involved in the election process is free and fair. Q: The LTTE is understood to have banned Tamils in the North-East from contesting with non-TNA political parties. Do you think that this restriction can allow free and fair election? Will you be taking any action in this regard? A: My personal view is that the officials of the Election Commission and Police will not be able to go to LTTE held areas and as a result it is difficult to say that the election process in those areas will be free and fair. Q: There are allegations that the private sector mass media is supporting only one contesting political party. Is this perception true? A: I think some private sector media institutions may cater to the needs of one political party, but as far as I am concerned the main political parties have their own financial supports during any election campaign. The total expenses for the General Elections can be Rs. 600 million but I think the main political parties will be spending billions and billions for the election as a whole. Q: Does this mean the voters are improperly informed and does it mean that the election results will not be democratic? A: People are not aware about the exact time that an election comes. In our country 65 per cent to 75 of people use their democratic rights in voting at elections and electing representatives to parliament. People have every access to information and therefore we cannot say that things can be misinterpreted to them. Q: What can be done to resolve this problem? A: This is a very important question because of 51 political parties only 24 parties have handed over nominations and will be contesting the General Elections. The registered voters will be 13 million but around 1 million voters will abstain from voting as they are not interested in casting their votes for either party. Q: What are the guidelines provided to you by the Election Commission? A: PAFFREL is quite happy about its present stature because the Election Commission has given us the full accreditation to officially enter each polling station to monitor the election. There are no specific guidelines for us to follow but we will take every measure to work in harmony with the Elections Commission in accordance with the Election Law. Q: How soon after polling date will PAFFREL come out with a judgement of the fairness of the election? A: PAFFREL has already decided to issue a communique on the free and fairness of the elections on April 2 at 9.00 p.m. and our final report on the fairness of the election will be issued after one-and-half-month's time. |
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