Sri Lankan election monitors have found a novel way to track any election violence or fraud during a November 17 presidential election by telling witnesses to send them a text message.
Some 2.7 million out of nearly 20 million Sri Lankans have mobile phones and trials during a 2004 parliamentary poll showed people who would not normally report incidents were keen to use the cheap and easy system.
"It's a good way to empower people," Jayomi Dhushiyanthan, marketing director for monitor People's Action for a Free and Fair Election (PAFFREL).
"In 2004, we had over 9,000 messages from all over the island. We can alert the election commission, the police or even the ambulance."
PAFFREL says it will deploy over 20,000 monitors across Sri Lanka on election day, fearing that with the race between opposition chief Ranil Wickremesinghe and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse too close to call any malpractice could affect the overall result.
Monitors say they cannot be everywhere and fear the island's Tamil Tiger rebels or a splinter group might try and disrupt the poll. If the election commissioner judges polls have been distorted, the election will be re-run in affected areas.
