Visiting foreign election observers recommended taking down any online messages that violate election laws prior to the commencement of probes on related election law violations.

“We first recommend removing any online messages that may violate election laws,” election observer and former Chief Election Commissioner of India Syed Nasim Ahmad Zaidi said at a press conference in Colombo yesterday (12) ahead of the Parliamentary General Election tomorrow (14). “After any messages are removed, then we advise the authorities to commence investigations.”

These comments follow data and information on complaints of online election law violations that visiting overseas election observers have received from the Police, with election observers alleging that out of 496 complaints thus relayed, 200 were related to election law violations.

However, the said observers noted that the pre-Poll environment has been peaceful and is expected to be peaceful. 

During the 2024 Presidential Election, there were 2,387 election-related violations with only 11 complaints being related to violent acts, representing a 43.7% drop in violations when compared to the Presidential Election in 2019.

The observers noted that they expect a peaceful Parliamentary Election and that they would be observing aspects such as the preparation of polling stations and the conduct of poll workers, by being stationed at 10 locations throughout the country.

Yet, despite the observations by foreign workers, the local observer group, the People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections noted that there has been a decline in foreign election observers for the upcoming election when compared to the recent Presidential Election.