The upcoming Local Government Elections, scheduled for May 6 are seeing a notable decline in public interest. Now, election monitoring efforts are also expected to be scaled back due to financial constraints faced by independent observer organisations.
The recent decision by USAID to suspend funding for non-governmental projects has had a significant impact, leading to cutbacks in election monitoring activities. As a result, several civil society groups have been forced to reduce the number of observers they deploy.
The Executive Director of the People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL), Rohana Hettiarachchi, told the Sunday Observer that his organisation will deploy between 3,500 and 4,000 observers for the upcoming election, with 200 designated to oversee postal voting. This is a reduction from previous years, where more observers were typically mobilised.
Meanwhile, the Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) announced it will not deploy any observers at all this year, citing a complete lack of funding to cover operational expenses. CaFFE’s Executive Director, Ahmad Manas Makien, confirmed that without financial support, participation in this election is not feasible.
Unlike national elections, local government polls in Sri Lanka do not usually attract international election observers. In previous cycles, more than 5,000 local observers were deployed.
