European, Commonwealth election observers meet President

Election observers from the European Union and Commonwealth, who arrived in the country to monitor next Monday’s parliamentary elections, met with President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday at the President’s Office.

The monitors are in Sri Lanka on an invitation extended by the Commissioner of Elections.

The European observer team headed by Cristian Preda, a Romanian member of the European Parliament, comprises over 70 members from different EU countries as well as Norway and Switzerland.

The European team will spread out in 22 districts in all nine provinces to monitor the campaign activities, the conduct of the media, the voting and the counting, the complaints and appeals process and the announcement of the results.

The nine-member Commonwealth team led by the former President of Malta, Dr. George Abela, is mandated to observe and consider the various factors affecting the credibility of the electoral process as a whole.

The Commonwealth observers are scheduled to tour the Western, Central, Northern, North Central, and North Western provinces and pay special attention to the 48-hour campaign-free period prior to the poll day as well as on voting, vote counting and release of results.

Both groups will submit detailed reports at the end of their observation missions.

EU poll monitoring mission Chief Observer visits Southern Province 

The Chief Observer of the European Union Election Observation Mission to Sri Lanka, Cristian Preda, arrived in Colombo on 12 August for his second visit. 

He travelled to Galle to meet with the District Returning Officer, candidates and representatives of political parties —UPFA, UNP and JVP— and domestic observers —PAFFREL and CMEV— of the Southern Province.

The European Union Election Observation Mission to Sri Lanka was established on 15 July, following an invitation from the Commissioner of Elections. The mission is made up of over 85 observers deployed in all nine provinces.