COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office

7 MARCH 2012 SRI LANKA
―The recent protests have been organised largely by the main opposition party, the
United National Party, and a left-wing party, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP). One of
the recent rallies saw fierce clashes between supporters and opponents of the
government, which left several opposition legislators injured and resulted in a number of
vehicles belonging to opposition supporters being damaged.‖
See also Sarath Fonseka and his supporters and Freedom of speech and media
3.16 The EIU April 2011 Sri Lanka report 29 recorded that:
―The ruling United People‘s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) coalition secured a landslide
victory in local elections held in March, adding to the list of overwhelming poll victories
that it has won since triumphing in the civil war against the rebel Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which ended in 2009 after 26 years of fighting. The UPFA swept
the local-authority elections, gaining control of 205 of the 234 bodies with a share of
roughly 55% of the vote. The main opposition United National Party (UNP) won a
disappointing nine councils, with around 33% of the vote, while the Tamil National
Alliance (ITAK) won control of 12, thanks to its more concentrated support base in the
north and east. The election was peaceful by Sri Lanka‘s turbulent standards, although
one person was killed in the province of Sabaragamuwa and a number of other violent
incidents were recorded. Turnout was relatively low.
―Although the local authorities are not hugely powerful bodies, the result is nevertheless
a confidence boost for the ruling coalition. The UPFA has faced a series of setbacks
since late 2010, including major flooding that displaced hundreds of thousands of
people at the start of 2011 and public anger over the rising cost of living. The results
suggest that its electoral machine remains powerful.‖
3.17 For the full results of the local elections of March 2011, click on the hyperlink to the
relevant section of the website of the Sri Lanka Department of Elections.
3.18 For information on how such elections were conducted: Campaign for Free and Fair
Elections and Centre for Monitoring Election Violence.
3.19 On 19 May 2011 the official website of the Government of Sri Lanka 30 announced that:
―President Mahinda Rajapaksa has appointed four Commissions under Article 41 A of
the Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka with effect from May
16, 2011.
―These Commissions are the Public Service Commission, the Human Rights
Commission of Sri Lanka, the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery and
Corruption and the Finance Commission.‖
29
Economist Intelligence Unit, April 2011 Sri Lanka report
http://www.eiu.com/report_dl.asp?issue_id=1297945914&mode=pdf [subscription only] date accessed 2
June 2011, p10
30
Official website of the Government of Sri Lanka, President appoints four key Commission, 19 May
2011
http://www.priu.gov.lk/news_update/Current_Affairs/ca201105/20110519president_appoints_key_comm
issions.htm date accessed 1 June 2011
The main text of this COI Report contains the most up to date publicly available information as at 3 February 2012.
Further brief information on recent events and reports has been provided in the Latest News section
to 2 March 2012.
23