Foreign teams fan out to monitor election process

More than one hundred international election observers would be in the country to monitor the upcoming Parliamentary elections on August 17, Elections Department officials said.

Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya said his department invited at least 64 observers from the EU, around ten observers from the Commonwealth Secretariat and 30 from the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) regional countries.EU Election Observation Mission Head (EOM) Cristian Preda, who came this week, said their mandate was to observe the elections without interfering in the electoral process, contributing to transparency while respecting local laws and regulations.

The EU Election Observation Mission consists of a Core Team of eight election analysts, and 18 Long-Term Ob- servers, who will be deployed to all the Provinces with 28 Short Term Observers deployed shortly before election day.

EOM press and public officer Maria Jose Gamez told the Sunday Times that the team visited the north this week as a first step to initiate the election monitoring process.

“We have met the Assistant Election Commissioner of Jaffna District, officials and civil society members to understand the ground level situation of the region,” she said. The EOM will closely follow the electoral process and make its assessment on the basis of Sri Lankan legislation, as well as regional and international commitments. This week eighteen LongTerm Observers (LTOs) from the EOM departed to their respective duty areas in all nine provinces of the country. Each team comprises two LTOs.

They will be joined in the field by 28 Short-Term Observers (STOs) by August 11. Short-Term Observers and seven Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) will complete the observation mission.

The People’s Action For Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) will bring twelve international monitors from its affiliated main organisation, Asian Network For Free Elections (ANFREL), to monitor the election process.

PAFFREL Executive Director Rohana Hettiarachchi told the Sunday Times that the monitors will reach the country by next week and will immediately start their election monitoring throughout the country.

“We have our local monitors at the grassroots level; these international monitors will be coordinating with them only for technical help. They will carry out their duties on their own and after the elections they will submit their report to the public,” he said.