International election monitors to arrive on 26 December
Monday, 8 December 2014 00:01
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People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) said 35 international election monitors will arrive in Colombo on 26 December to observe the forthcoming presidential election.
According to PAFFREL Executive Director Rohana Hettiarachchi, Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya has granted approval for their proposal to invite a team of 35 foreign observers from the Asian Elections Monitoring Organization.
The PAFFREL Director said the 35 observers representing Bangladesh, Thailand, Philippine, Nepal, Afghanistan, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan and India would monitor the presidential election.
These observers represent 10 countries, Thailand, Bangladesh, Philippines, India, Afghanistan, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan and Nepal and all them have experience in monitoring elections, Hettiarachchi said.
The foreign observers are expected to visit several places in the island during the elections and monitor the polling process and the events during the post-polling period, the National News Agency Lankapuvath said.
The Election Commissioner earlier said that Sri Lanka will invite foreign monitors to observe the upcoming presidential election but would not invite UN election monitors.
In addition to foreign observers, PAFFREL said it will deploy 13,000 local observers island wide to monitor the presidential election.
The presidential election will be held on 8 January and the postal voting will be held on 23 and 24 December.
