News
Sri Lanka’s presidential election marks a historic low in violence
By Rathindra Kuruwita
Sri Lankan elections have become less violent over the years and the current presidential election is the most peaceful one of that kind since the first such election in 1982, Manjula Gajanayake, Executive Director of the Institute for Democratic Reforms and Electoral Studies (IRES) said yesterday (13).
Gajanayake told The Island, “We have come to a stage where people don’t feel physically threatened during the election period. This is a great achievement, people should not forget this”.
Gajanayake said that elections monitors, and civil society activists played an important role in reducing election-related violence in the last 25 years. Often, it was elections monitors that went before the Supreme Court seeking guidelines to reduce loopholes in elections laws and processes.
“The Supreme Court, the Election Commission, and the Police, also played a significant role in ensuring free and fair elections. Until about the year 2000, we couldn’t null the ballots of a polling booth despite what irregularities had taken place. It was the Supreme Court that instructed, following a petition, the Elections Department to prepare guidelines on what to do if there were serious irregularities at a polling booth,” he said.
Gajanayake added that in recent years political leaders have also stopped egging their supporters to attack their political opponents. There are over 75,000 election offices across the country and apart from two complaints, there have been no attacks on these election offices this time. “About a decade ago attacks on elections offices were quite common.”
They have also stopped the use of posters significantly, and this, too, is a reason why violence has declined significantly, he said.
“Now, when you go on the roads you only see posters announcing political rallies. One of the main starting points of election-related violence was encounters between supporters when they were pasting posters in the mornings,” he said.
IRES Executive Director said that due to campaign finance laws a candidate can spend 109 rupees on election propaganda per voter. A candidate can thus spend over 1.86 billion rupees.
“IRES feels that this is not adequate to carry out an effective campaign,” he said.
He added that the code of criminal procedure (amendment) Bill, gazetted on 19 July 2024, has significantly increased fines related to election-related offences.
Section 169E has been amended to increase the fine for “bribery by treating” from 200 rupees to 750,000 rupees. Fine for “bribery in connection with an election” has been increased from 500 rupees to a million rupees. Section 169F has been amended to increase the fine for “undue influence at an election” from 500 rupees to 100,000 rupees. Fine for “personation at an election” has been increased from 300 rupees to 100,000 rupees.
“These changes had to be made because these are old laws. The fines for election-related offences were laughable,” he said.
COPF final report on USD 2.5 mn cyber fraud recommends action against all responsible
The US$2.5 million loss incurred during Sri Lanka’s foreign debt repayment to Australia was a clear case of a cybercrime and theft, Committee on Public Finance (COPF) Chairman Dr. Harsha de Silva told Parliament yesterday.
Presenting the COPF final report on the cyber fraud, Dr. de Silva said the incident amounted to a serious financial crime and called for a comprehensive investigation, by law enforcement authorities, to identify and prosecute all those responsible.
The report revealed serious governance, procedural and operational failures that enabled the fraudulent transfer of public funds, while recommending sweeping reforms to strengthen cybersecurity, financial controls and public debt management systems.
According to the report, officials of the Treasury and the Central Bank bore responsibility for governance lapses that contributed to the failures. It also highlighted the fact that the Ministry of Finance was operating an outdated Microsoft Exchange Server after security support had ended, while basic safeguards, such as multi-factor authentication, had not been implemented.
The COPF said suspicious payment instructions linked to debt repayments involving India, the United Kingdom, Germany and Belgium had also been detected, preventing further losses. However, the US$ 2.5 million fraud materialised only in the repayment transaction involving Australia.
The report has noted that officials had failed to verify lender email domains, relied on unverified email communications and lacked adequate internal controls, allowing the fraud to continue for months.
Although the investigation uncovered system-wide weaknesses across several institutions, only four mid-level Finance Ministry officials had been suspended so far, the report said.
The COPF has recommended a special audit of the foreign debt repayment process, strengthened cybersecurity measures across state institutions, updated financial regulations and improvements to public debt management systems.
by Saman Indrajith
News
Opposition signs no-confidence motion against Justice Minister for dereliction of duty over Negombo Prison deaths
Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa, together with Opposition MPs, yesterday signed a No-Confidence Motion (NCM) in Parliament against Justice Minister Harshana Nanayakkara.The move comes in response to the unrest at the Negombo Prison, where both prison officers and inmates were killed.
Opposition members said the Minister had failed to fulfill his responsibility and accountability regarding their safety.According to the Opposition group, the NCM seeks to hold the Minister directly accountable for lapses in ensuring protection within the prison system.
The Attorney General yesterday informed the Supreme Court that the government has decided to review the legality of agreements entered into by the previous administration to hand over the country’s electronic visa issuance operations to private companies.
Additional Solicitor General Viveka Siriwardena, appearing for the Attorney General, made the submission when the Supreme Court took up the fundamental rights petitions filed by former MPs President’s Counsel M.A. Sumanthiran, Patali Champika Ranawaka, and Rauff Hakeem, challenging the previous Cabinet’s decision to outsource the e-visa system.
The petitions were heard before a three-judge bench, comprising Chief Justice Preethi Padman Surasena and Justices Achala Wengappuli and Arjuna Obeyesekere.
The Additional Solicitor General informed court that the current Cabinet had appointed a subcommittee to examine the legality of the agreements with the private companies and requested time to report on its findings, stating that the review was still underway.
President’s Counsel Sumanthiran, appearing as one of the petitioners, told the court that although the present government had indicated its intention to cancel the transaction, the petitioners wished to proceed with the case.
He noted that members of the current Cabinet had been named as respondents in the petitions.The Supreme Court directed the petitioners to issue notice on the members of the current Cabinet, named as respondents, and fixed September 29 for further proceedings.
Spain leave it late to book semifinal date with France
Showers will occur in the Sabaragamuwa, Western and North-western provinces and in Galle, Matara, Kandy and Nuwara-Eliya districts
US$ 2.5 mn cyber heist exposes system failures
Opposition signs no-confidence motion against Justice Minister for dereliction of duty over Negombo Prison deaths
AG informs SC of e-visa agreement review
Navy, Coast Guard seize smuggled pharmaceuticals and cosmetics in Puttalam
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