Campaign for Free and Fair Election has vehemently denied the claim by Minister Wimal Weerawansa that the foreign funds received by the election monitors are being used for the Maithripala Sirisena campaign.

Executive Director of CaFFE Keerthi Thennakoon has told the BBC Sandeshaya that this claim by Weerawansa is an attempt to create mistrust about the election monitors among the public.

Weerawansa had claimed on Friday that the monitoring organizations receive US $ 16 million. That vast amount is not necessary even to observe each and every voter, the Minister has added.

However, Thennakoon had told BBC Sandeshaya that this vast amount claimed by the Minister far exceeds the amount received by all NGOs in Sri Lanka and even exceeds the amount received by at least 17 or 18 government ministries.

CaFFE is finding hard to fulfill its day to day operations with the funds it receives, Thennakoon added. However, CaFFE has been able to reveal politicians who violate election laws, he has also said.

Meanwhile, Convener of Center for Monitoring Elections Violence DM Dissanayake stated a few weeks back that the monitoring organizations do not have an alternative but accept foreign funds as there are no local bodies funding election monitoring.

He also said that elections monitoring is vital as it prevents politicians from breaking election laws, at least to a certain extent.