• Chair blames P’ment for not enacting proposals to permit advance voting for same group & establishing polling centres within prisons 

The Election Commission (EC) stated that it has no objections to the Department of Prisons establishing an appropriate system for eligible prisoners to cast their vote in the Presidential Election scheduled for 21 September.

The Department recently stated that in the current situation, no prisoner will be able to vote in the Presidential Election unless a programme is prepared based on a court order or directives are received from the relevant institutions such as the EC.

Speaking to The Daily Morning on the matter, EC Chairperson R.M.A.L. Rathnayake said that the EC had proposed the introduction of an advanced voting system and the establishment of polling centres in prison complexes in an attempt to grant the voting rights to prisoners, but that those proposals were not passed in the Parliament. 

“We can't do anything about this issue until the relevant laws are amended. We did everything possible, but the related laws were not amended in the Parliament,” he said. 

Noting that prisoners are entitled to voting rights, he said that the only issue is that there is no programme for them (prisoners) to cast their vote. “We proposed to introduce an advanced voting system or establish polling centres in prisons, but they were not implemented. However, if the Prisons Department formulates some mechanism for prisoners to cast votes, we have no objection to it. If the Department can transport prisoners to polling centres and allow them to cast votes, that is totally fine, but, what they (Department) say is that they can't do it,” he said.

When contacted by The Daily Morning on an earlier occasion, the Commissioner General of Prisons Thushara Upuldeniya said that several parties have taken the matter to the Court of Appeal (CA), but that a ruling is yet to be issued. He mentioned that the Department has not prepared any programme for facilitating prisoner voting and will consider doing so if the CA delivers a ruling or if the relevant institutions, such as the EC, issue directives. 

Regarding the possibility of prisoners voting in the upcoming Presidential Election, he noted that the issue is still under discussion, but that under the current circumstances, no prisoner will be able to vote.