Voter intimidation, illegal election propaganda reported as at 2 pm.

As at 2 pm today, a total of 83 violations have been reported to PAFFREL. Of them, 57 incidents have been confirmed and relate primarily to intimidation of voters, and carrying out illegal election propaganda etc.

Voting for the 2015 Presidential Election started at 7 am today (January 8).

As at 2 pm today, a total of 83 violations have been reported to PAFFREL. Of them, 57 incidents have been confirmed and relate primarily to intimidation of voters, irregularities relating to ballot papers, assaults and carrying out illegal election propaganda. A total of 15 complaints have been made regarding the intimidation of voters, 14 complaints relating to carrying out illegal election propaganda, 8 complaints regarding irregularities relating to ballot papers/ polling cards, 4 assaults and 2 grievous assaults.

Western Province has the highest amount of violations at 10 (confirmed), with Colombo reporting 5, Gampaha reporting 3 and Kalutara reporting 2. The Western Province is followed by the Central and Southern Provinces with 9 confirmed violations in each. In the Central Province, 5 are reported from Kandy and 4 from Nuwara Eliya. In the Southern Province, Galle reports 5 incidents and Matara and Hambantota reports 2 incidents each.  

The Uva and Northern Provinces reports 5 confirmed incidents. Of them, Monaragala District had 3 complaints and Badulla 2. In the North, Jaffna District reported 5 violations which included one bomb blast as at 2 pm. The lowest number of violations as at 2 pm today is from the Eastern Province, with 3 incidents.