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Lanka Seeks Intel. Observers to Monitor Upcoming Elections
Two Sri Lankan election monitoring bodies are seeking an uncertain numbers of international observers and up to 10,000 local volunteers to monitor the upcoming parliamentary elections scheduled on October 10, civic group sources said Sunday.
The Movement for Free and fair Elections and Peoples Alliance for Free and Fair Elections, which were involved in the election monitoring process during last December presidential election, have once again joined their hands for the task.
The two bodies are currently seeking two teams of international observers from the United States and the European Union. Negotiations are underway with a U.S. institute and they have discussed the matter with the EU, officials said. In addition, they plan to mobilize a total of 8,000 to 10,000 local volunteers to serve as election observers in the polls.
Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga dissolved the Parliament on Friday, six days before its expiry, and the general elections are set to be held on October 10.
Observers here believe that the ruling People's Alliance (PA) will face strong challenge from the main opposition United National Party (UNP). The popularity of PA is on decline due to the rising cost of living as a result of recent devaluation of rupee, the country's currency.
Setbacks of government forces on the battle fronts with separatist Tamil Tiger rebels earlier this year and the failure in government's efforts to push through the draft constitutions in the Parliament also contribute to the declination.
After four months of tough negotiations between PA and UNP, the two sides recently reached consensus on the draft constitution. However, the government was forced to postpone indefinitely the vote on the new constitution because it is far short of a broad support needed from the general public, especially the dominant Buddhists in the country.
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