The CMEV institute has filed a complaint with the Election Commission, pointing out that the statements made by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake at several places regarding the provincial elections are a violation of election laws. In response, the Mawbima newspaper published a news story with the headline ”No to speeches that violate election laws: ”Mako” writes to the President” based on the letter sent by the Commission to the President secratary not to make such statements. However, the Chairman of the Election Commission has later denied the news and has informed the ”Mawbima” newspaper to correct the relevant news.
However, after the news was published, a lot of attention has been paid to the denial of the news by the Chairman of the Election Commission, R.M.A.L. Ratnayake. This action is already being heavily criticized on social media and regarding the entire incident, Bigun Menaka Gamage, wrote a response news to the Mawbima newspaper today (18) under the title “Two tongues to the Election Commission”. It contains the following points.
The CMEV organization had complained to the Election Commission two weeks ago that the Local Government Institutions had committed the wrongs of undue influence and bribery under the Election Ordinance through the statements made by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake at the Buttala and Tissamaharama election rallies that financial provisions would not be provided to the unwinnable local government institutions.
The organization has informed the Election Commission that the statement made by the Executive President during the 2025 Local Government Election campaign is a violation of the election law and that both the relevant statements are a serious and clear violation of Sections 82 (c) and 82 (d) (undue influence and bribery) of the Local Government Elections Ordinance.
The CMEV organization also states in its complaint that the President’s statement is clearly a combination of both a threat and a promise when compared to the statement that the proposals coming from the National People’s power headed by its representative will be accepted and funds will be provided without question.
The ‘Mawbima’ newspaper asked the Election Commission’s Chairman R.M.A.L. Ratnayake about the steps taken by the Commission regarding this complaint on the 10th. In this regard, when asked the day before yesterday (April 16), an officer of the legale division said that the Secretary to the President had sent a letter to the , asking him not to make such statements.
The officer had given a detailed explanation about the practice of sending letters to the Secretary to the President in such incidents due to the immunity granted to the President in civil and criminal cases under Article 35 of the Constitution.
According to the explanation of the officer, ‘Mawbima’ had reported the news as the main headline under the heading ‘No to stories that violate election laws: Mako writes to the President’.
After the ‘newspaper’ containing the news was printed and published, the Chairman of the Election Commission, R.M.A.L. Ratnayake, made a telephone call to the ‘Mawbima’ newspaper and stated that the news was incorrect and that he had not signed such a letter.
The Mawbima newspaper says that the previous day, ‘Mawbima’ made a statement about a letter allegedly sent to the President’s Secretary, in a background where an officer of the Election Commission’s Legal Division had given instructions to obtain relevant information from that division.
Similarly, if there is a problem here as an independent commission, it is questionable that the Director General of Government Information issued a statement without responding under the Election Commission’s letterhead, says the Mawbima newspaper.
Meanwhile, the Election Violence Monitoring Center has issued a statement today, saying that it is noteworthy that 15 days have passed since the complaint bearing the number 2025 CMEV/SLG2025/Complaint/01 was submitted to the Sri Lanka Election Commission on 2 April 2025, but that it has not received any response from the Election Commission.