No USAID, No monitoring? As Local Government Elections approach, Are Sri Lanka’s Monitors too dependent on foreign funding to do their job? Is this just a funding issue – or a crisis in accountability?
For decades, civil society organisations in Sri Lanka, especially independent election monitoring organisations, have played a crucial role in safeguarding the democratic process. From ensuring transparency at polling booths to filing court cases that resulted in landmark judgments, these organisations have consistently held institutions accountable and empowered voters to demand free, fair and peaceful elections. Their presence on the ground, their interim observations, and final reports have not only guided electoral reforms but also shaped public discourse and voter confidence.
However, the landscape of election monitoring faced an unprecedented challenge following U.S. President Donald Trump’s Executive decision to halt aid to several countries, including Sri Lanka. Four of the main donors in the electoral process stopped their funding, and a few are no longer in the country. This sudden drop in funding has raised serious questions: Can election monitors continue their work without foreign aid? How will they ensure the credibility of the upcoming elections?
As Sri Lanka heads into Local Government elections on May 6, through conversations with election officials, experts, and observers, the Sunday Observer analyses how they are coping with financial challenges while trying to uphold democratic values in a changing political landscape.
PAFFREL and CMEV’s long road to democracy
Two of Sri Lanka’s most prominent and enduring election monitoring bodies, the People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) and the Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV), have been at the heart of the country’s democratic evolution for decades.
PAFFREL has monitored every major election, from local authorities to Presidential contests, making tangible contributions to electoral justice. One of its most notable victories was the 2021 Moneragala High Court ruling that disqualified a Local Councillor over voter bribery, a landmark case supported by evidence obtained through the Right to Information Act.
The CMEV, founded in 1997 by the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA), the Free Media Movement (FMM), and the INFORM Human Rights Documentation Centre, has contributed to significant policy shifts, including proposals to regulate campaign spending and improve electoral transparency.
Executive Director of PAFFREL, Rohana Hettiarachchi said, “During the above period in the Local Government election, we have received 237 incidents related to about 257 electoral law and general law violations. These include 23 cases of abuse of State power, resources, and employees, and 17 acts of violence.”
“Regarding funds, we are managing. Sometimes, there can be a 15 to 20 percent reduction in a monitoring mission. Last time, there were 5,000 observers for monitoring, but this time it’s between 3,500 to 4,000. On the other hand, this is interesting because people volunteer to join us. In many cases, people provide vehicles free to do monitoring, and some only ask for the cost of fuel. This means a few people think this is a social responsibility and are helping us. 100 percent of the observation mission is volunteer-based. We have to cover some initial costs such as printing. For the pre-election period, we appoint one individual for each electoral ward who continuously sends information to us. We already knew there would be a funding issue, so we planned to manage this crisis.”
Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE)
Set up in April 2008, CaFFE operates as a broad civil society platform, uniting activists, religious groups, trade unions, and political party members to ensure free and fair elections.
Executive Director of CaFFE, Ahmed Manas Makeen said, “We are also facing funding issues. We don’t have any funding. But anyway, doing our observation missions, unfortunately, we were not able to do physical voter education programs. For that, alternatively, we are using our old social media campaigns and re-sharing those materials on Facebook. Also, as Caffe, we have experience, a few years ago we did election monitoring without funding. Election day observations and pre-election observations, many people are joining us on a volunteer basis. All 25 administrative districts are where we plan to do our observations. But we can’t do like the 2024 Presidential and the last Parliament election.”
“During the past two elections in the Batticaloa district, 100 percent we did our observations were done on a volunteer basis.”
Commissioner General of Elections, Saman Sri Ratnayake said, “We have discussed with the election monitoring organisations and reviewed the number of observers they can deploy. Some organisations informed us that they cannot field the same number as in previous elections,” he said. “What we advised them was that their observers should be strategically dispersed across locations. We have also scheduled another discussion with them tomorrow.”
The Commissioner said that, overall, observation activities are progressing without any major issues. “Compared to previous elections, this one has seen very few complaints or incidents of violence. We have not yet received any significant complaints through observation organisations,” he said. “However, complaints are being reported through our district election offices and also via the mobile application we introduced recently. Compared to the 2018 Local Government election, this time it is notably more peaceful.”
Addressing concerns regarding rejected votes, Ratnayake said that the simplified nature of the ballot paper is expected to lead to a reduction in invalid votes. Since the ballot paper is very simple in this election, the number of rejected votes can be reduced. When asked about international observation, the Commissioner said that no foreign election observation missions will be arriving this time.
He said that local election monitoring organisations must carry out their duties systematically. Their institutions should be structured with practical and efficient policies in a way that they can operate effectively, even without foreign aid.
A call for accountability
Prominent election expert and legal analyst Attorney-at-Law Dissanayaka Dasanayaka raised serious concerns over the current state of election observation in Sri Lanka. He questioned the sustainability and accountability of monitoring organisations, especially in the face of declining foreign financial support.
“The biggest problem we’re facing today is that many election monitoring organisations say they are unable to carry out proper observation activities, and that raises the fundamental question: Were all our election monitoring efforts dependent only on foreign aid?”
Dissanayaka highlighted a stark contrast between current and previous elections in terms of civil society engagement.
“Although these organisations claim there are no barriers to election activity, their participation has drastically dropped. With the loss of U.S. financial assistance, we see their operational efficiency significantly hampered. Some organisations that previously monitored elections with US AID funds still haven’t published their final reports on past elections,” he said. “This shows the problem is not just about funding, it’s about efficiency and regularity.”
He said, “People and a few civil societies question what the Government and the President have done in the past six months. But election monitoring organisations have been observing for the same period, and still, few organisations haven’t published their final report. That is their only task. If they can’t fulfil it, who are they to question the government?”
“In past elections, we saw media briefings and regular updates by monitoring groups. Now, there is complete silence. They only highlight popular topics, visible and surface-level incidents, rather than deep-rooted, grassroots issues. Serious challenges faced by young and female candidates in rural areas are reported to us, but whether these are being properly communicated by the monitoring organisations is highly questionable.”
He offered a particularly pointed critique regarding innovation and follow-through:
“They introduced a digital campaign finance monitoring tool, Ape Salli, but now, not a single organisation is actively using or even talking about it. Did they gather even 50 percent of the expected campaign finance data? No. Many civil society groups launch projects, then keep silent, and face zero accountability. The lack of media or public scrutiny over this is deeply concerning. It’s disappointing that some well-established monitoring organisations have not even updated their social media platforms,” he said.
Election observation does not end with what is seen on Election Day. It continues long after the votes are counted, identifying gaps, highlighting challenges, and pushing for meaningful reforms. Democracy never stops. It always grows. So, election monitoring is not a simple thing.
At a time when public trust in institutions is fragile, the role of independent election observers becomes even more vital. Their silence, as some said, could be louder than any election violation. If democracy is to grow, the systems that safeguard it must be strengthened not just during elections, but every single day that follows.
