By Sarah Hannan The growing trend in elections violence in the preceding week comes in the form of hecklers who disrupt political rallies with their hooting and picking fights with attendees. There also seem to be an increase in the misuse of state property in elections campaigns and a record number of political appointments too have been reported. The Sunday Morning spoke to local independent nonpartisan organisations which monitor the incidence of election-related violence during this period. According to the Election Commission of Sri Lanka, a total of 1,618 complaints were received out of which 14 were violence-related incidents, 1,537 election law violations, and 67 other incidents. “This week, we observed on elections rally stages as well as social media an increase in hate speech instigating racial division. Misuse of state property too has increased especially in Akkaraipattu and the Matale District. With the increasing amount of violence now being reported, we are looking at generating a district-level count for these incidents by next week,” Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) Acting Executive Director Ahmed Manas Makeen said. Furthermore, CaFFE was in receipt of a total of 309 complaints relating to election violence as of Friday (25). Out of that, complaints were relating to misuse of state property and personnel for election purposes (47), violence reported during campaign activities (209), damage to private property (5), and threats and intimidation (22), while other complaints relating to elections were reported in 20 instances. Meanwhile, People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) had received 205 complaints and incidents in relation to 214 electoral law/general law violations as of Friday (25); out of which 13 violations were related to acts of violence; 81 were relating to abuse of state power, resources, and misusing state sector employees in election activities; and 120 other election violation incidents. “It has been observed that among the candidates contesting the presidential election via social media networks, opinion polls are being conducted. It also appears that this poll is aimed at promoting individual candidates, which may be of prejudice to other candidates. We have written to the Election Commission to take appropriate action to prevent such activities taking place during the election period,” PAFFREL Executive Director Rohana Hettiarachchi stated. Speaking to The Sunday Morning, Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) National Co-ordinator Manjula Gajanayake informed that 464 incidents of violence relating to elections were reported. Against the New Democratic Front (NDF) there were 198 complaints recorded, and against the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) there were 186. “Geographically speaking, the Western Province reported 91 incidents and the Southern Province recorded 63 incidents, while the lowest amount of incidents was recorded from the Northern Province (55) and Eastern Province (44).” Gajanayake informed that the most concerning incidents were assaults and threats (16), while other complaints concerned appointments to state institutes (28), posters and cut-outs (182), misuse of public property (61), distribution of goods and opening ceremonies (44), and establishing illegal party offices (52). “The most recent incidents that were reported linked to election campaigns were from Katuwawala where an unidentified gang had splattered crude oil onto a cut-out displayed of Sajith Premadasa in front of the NDF area office, and Elahera, Polonnaruwa where a retired army soldier who supported the SLPP was assaulted by an unidentified gang.” CMEV had also observed that many state employees are using their personal Facebook profiles for election campaign purposes, but with the Election Commission issuing a circular banning such activities, that had reduced by this week. “Though Facebook promised to monitor such activities on private profiles and assist us to take down such posts, we do not see any efforts made by them to reduce personal election campaigning from the public on social media platforms,” Gajanayake added. He further added that with the limitations imposed on poster and cut-out campaigns, there is a growing trend of hecklers attending these rallies to sabotage the meetings by hooting at the candidate during their speeches and starting fights amidst the meetings. Also, the increase in political appointments to state institutes too had increased over the past week, Gajanayake reiterated.