Sri Lankan election watchdog says IDPs in camps may lose their voting rights at LG polls

An election monitoring group in Sri Lanka says that people living in IDP camps may lose the right to exercise their franchise at the forthcoming local government elections.

Executive Director of the People's Action for a Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL), Rohana Hettiarachchi has told the media that displaced persons in camps may lose their votes due to a practical issue.

He has explained that while people could vote for candidates within the district at parliamentary elections, they had to locate the local authority closest to their residence at the local government elections.

He has pointed out that 18,000 displaced persons in the Chettikulam camps in Vavuniya and around 3,000 displaced persons in Puttalam came from different areas.

Hettiarachchi has said that arranging special polling stations and transportation that were provided for these voters by the Elections Department during previous elections would be difficult for the local government elections.

According to him, political parties needed to come forward and provide a solution to the IDP voter issue.