Talks of EU election monitors is confusing and misleading the public - Keerthi Tennakoon
- Sunday, 21 July 2013 15:01
Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) is dismayed at the confusion regarding the ongoing discussion on foreign election observers.
CaFFE Executive Director Keerthi Tennakoon said that there is no possibility of the EU sending a monitoring mission for the upcoming Provincial Elections according to direct communications CaFFE had with EU delegation. This was corroborated by the statement of Jean Lambert, Chair of the European Parliament Delegation for Relations with the Countries of South Asia at a press briefing yesterday (July 19.)
However there are still media reports stating that EU monitors might observe the elections, confusing the public and misleading the stakeholders including the political parties and candidates.
There is still a possibility of the Commonwealth Secretariat sending a team of monitors/experts. However the election commissioner or the Government of Sri Lanka needs to send a formal invitation in the coming week if the Commonwealth Secretariat is able to prepare monitors and make the necessary logistical arrangements. If they are not invited immediately they will not be here for an adequate time necessary to understand the ground realities.
In addition the most reputed and experienced election monitor of all, the UN needs an invitation 3 months prior to the election. Therefore that avenue closed sometime back.
Deploying foreign observers at the last moment, where they do not understand the context in which the elections are held, often leads to confusion and embarrassment. For example Asian election monitors who were deployed last minuet for the 2008 Eastern Provincial Council elections arrived at conclusions that completely contradicted the observations made by local election monitors, media and political parties. CaFFE is concerned that the government is attempting to repeat history by delaying the sending of invitations.
CaFFE Executive Director Keerthi Tennakoon is issuing this press statement to clarify the confusion regarding the issue and to depict the ground realities of having experienced and reputed election observers, which meet real international standards. We believe that the possibility of the presence of international election monitors must contribute to a free and fair election and must not become just a talk show to confuse and distract relevant stakeholders.
