All provisions of the 17th Amendment should be fully implemented without further delay.

Effective and timely procedures should be specified by law regarding the complaints and appeals process. These should include: Streamlining all the election-related complaints into a single process; Ensuring that the system is transparent and publicly accountable. Voters, parties and other organisations should be able to defend their electoral rights by submitting a complaint or appeal to a clearly identified competent body; Any issue involving criminal liability should be referred through the court system; Complaints and appeals should be responded to within a reasonable and given timeperiod. However adequate time must be allowed for the gathering of information on which the decision will be based; A centralised record of all complaints and appeals, and their outcomes, should be kept. Reports should be regularly produced and made public; Clear information should be provided to the public about the process and how to make a complaint or appeal effectively.

If elections are held again before a national identity document scheme is fully implemented, clarification and enforcement is needed on the procedure for establishing
each voter’s identity. Currently the polling instructions allow presiding officers to refuse a ballot to a voter if they are “certain” the person is not who they claim to be and no opportunity is given to sign the Declaration of Identity. This clearly contradicts the election law that specifies that voters whose identity is in doubt should be required to sign the Declaration of Identity in order to be issued a ballot. While the instructions may prevent impersonation, they may also result in undue disenfranchisement and clearly have no legal basis.

Sri Lanka should honour the commitment it has made on the rights of migrant workers to vote, as specified in the International Convention on the Protection of the Right of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families1 (signed by Sri Lanka in 1996). Therefore a voting system should be introduced that allows Sri Lankan migrant workersand members of their families temporarily living abroad to vote for national elections. This should be enshrined in the law.

The Constitution and/or the Presidential Election Act should be amended to include the developments in the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court concerning election related matters. In particular:The right of voters to freely elect their representatives;The SC jurisprudence on Article 46A of the PEA, increasing the number and range of cases when the Commissioner of Elections should annul the results of a polling station and order a re-poll.

Rules for the publication of political parties’ accounts, including campaign contributions, should be introduced. Consideration should be given to limiting campaign expenditure.

The right of domestic observers to be present at the polling stations and counting centres should be included in the Presidential Election Act.

The process of counting should be developed in the following ways: Counting centres should be located in larger spaces/rooms to allow for adequate
working conditions and the presence of party agents and domestic observers; Efforts must be maintained to ensure that all counting staff are fully aware of the
criteria for ballot validity. This is necessary in order to make sure there is no variation between different count locations which would allow for allegations of distorting the process;The counting process would be made more efficient by commencing the count upon the arrival of a sufficient minimum number of boxes at the count centre. This would prevent delay and frustration that can arise from unnecessary delay.

Certain procedural practices related to polling need to be improved through clear instructions and training of the polling staff. In particular: The checking all the fingers of every voter for signs of electoral ink; The secrecy of the vote must be improved by ensuring that all electoral staff understand the importance of the concept and the respective arrangements that need to be implemented in each polling station (i.e. paying particular attention to the positioning of the booth.

The fundamental deficiencies in the voter registration system should be addressed as a matter of urgency. This can be implemented by either using census data (1) or developing the active system of registration currently in use. (1) Introducing a passive system of registration based on census data: the data is in electronic form and is currently collected every 10 years. To provide an adequate basis for a voter list, the census would need to be rolling or updated every year. (2) If the system of an on-going active registration is maintained, rather than creating an entirely new register each year, the one from the previous year should be used as a basis from which adjustments (additions/deletions) are made.

Registration should be systematised to reduce the potential for the work of enumerators to go un-checked. This requires development of training, accountability and monitoring of the work of Grama Niladahri, Special Enumerators or others tasked to do the ground-level data collection. Furthermore public consciousness should be raised about the importance of keeping a registration receipt (as proof of registration) and of the checking of entries during the display period.

There should be a meeting, initially at leadership level, of political parties with the objective of forming an agreement, relating to conduct for all future elections. This code of conduct should include commitments being made on non-violence, prevention of intimidation, fair and equal conditions for campaigning which include a commitment not to use public resources and appropriate behaviour by polling agents. Subsequent proposals should be enforced by either internal party discipline or the law, whichever is appropriate.

An independent Authority should be put in place with a clear mandate. It should be in charge of establishing rules for all print and electronic media (state-owned and private). These rules should be valid at all times and not only during an election campaign. The Authority should also be given the resources and training to constantly monitor in order to assess the conduct of all media. Monitoring provides evidence of any malpractice and thus enables the appropriate action to be taken.

Regulations regarding electoral silence in Sri Lanka are ambiguous and therefore need to be clarified in order to make them more precise. The silence period for electronic media appears to be excessively long (72 hours) and it does not affect paid propaganda broadcasts. Electoral silence should be the same for all the media.

Parties and coalitions/alliances, should promote women in politics by increasing the proportion of senior party positions that are held by women. They should also increase resources to encourage women to become involved at all levels of party activity. Similarly gender-sensitive campaign activities should be emphasized.

This is particularly relevant to any arrangements which require a Palestinian- Israeli agreement, as this proved to be extremely time consuming and problematic.

It is imperative that the electoral process in East Jerusalem is conducted in an equal manner as far as possible in comparison to the other electoral constituencies. Whilst it is understood that Annex II of the Declaration of Principles may still be relevant, it is hoped that good will and common sense will prevail in this respect to prevent a recurrence of the problems which characterised the process in Jerusalem in both 1996 and 2005.

Voters must receive assurances that their participation in the electoral process will not in any way jeopardise their rights and status as Jerusalem ID card holders.

Candidates eligible to stand for election in Jerusalem, but currently residing elsewhere, must be afforded proper access to the constituency.

If the postal services should remain the provider of infrastructural support to the voting process, then this should not necessarily in itself mean there is a limitation
on the number of premises that can be provided, as based on examples elsewhere in the world when there is an increased “seasonal” demand for postal services,
temporary postal facilities can be utilised.

The EUEOM strongly recommends that political authorities undertake to respect the independence of the CEC and its subordinate bodies in all districts, in the
interests of the integrity and legitimacy of the electoral process. This is a question of political will, as the required provisions are already present in the law.

Further, the suggested changes to CEC and DEC procedures (see below) would add extra safeguards in this respect.

The EUEOM also wants to stress that there is no requirement for the CEC to resign following an election. There is no legal imperative for this and it would
bring into question the independence of the body.

There should be a parallel end for a need for ‘special polling stations’.

Voters should be made aware that they have a responsibility to present themselves for registration and political parties and civil society organisations should be
mobilised to publicise the registration process, ensuring as many eligible persons as possible are reached.