by Tamil Guardian Editorial; published March 6, 2004
Franchise Denied: The Tamil vote has been thwarted – again
As Sri Lankans go to vote at their third parliamentary elections in the space of five years, large sections of the Tamil people are once again to be hampered in exercising their right to vote. As at the last elections in December 2001, the Elections Commissioner has decided to cluster polling booths in areas under the control of the Sri Lanka Army and direct all Tamils in the Vanni to vote at these sites. Just as it also did last time, the SLA has announced that it has no intention of relaxing its security checking procedures at the crossover points into territory under their control. As a result, around 200,000 Tamil voters in LTTE controlled areas will not be able to cross over within the short timeframe between which the security checkpoints and the polling booths are open. Though this practice was ruled a denial of the voters’ fundamental rights by the Sri Lankan Supreme Court after the last elections, it has not prevented the repetition of the same. While the Liberation Tigers have offered solutions to make it easier for the Tamils to vote, from hosting polling booths in areas under their control to offering to clear the ‘no-man’s land’ of landmines so booths can be located there, the Sri Lankan administrative and military establishment has as usual colluded to ensure that once again, Tamil votes will be either cast with great difficulty, or not cast at all.
The implications of this denial of the Tamils franchise rights stretches beyond the number of votes received by candidates standing in the local electorates. Due to Sri Lanka’s complicated electoral system, the parties who should have received these votes will also be denied their representatives on the national list, thereby further reducing their representation in parliament. Therefore the impediment to Tamils voting actually has a compounded impact on the Tamil representation in the Sri Lankan parliament. But all of this is, unfortunately, only too symptomatic of the overall Sinhala approach to matters Tamil.
Last month Government Agents in the North and East were issued instructions about the forthcoming elections in Sinhalese only, and then denied translators. Meanwhile, reports continue of people in Tamil areas being denied the opportunity to make complaints in their language, as the local police do not speak Tamil. While Tamil is still technically an official language of the country, the government’s refusal to allow Tamils to use the language administratively and the lack of sensitivity shown to Tamil rights have only confirmed that these rights are not a priority for the government. In the context of these actions by the Sinhala state, it should surprise no-one that even those Tamil parties fielding candidates in the elections have reiterated that the right to external self-determination remains an option, albeit one of last resort, in the pursuit of their legitimate rights.