The European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) will send 26 long-term observers to Sri Lanka by tomorrow, intending to increase observers closer to the presidential elections.
Observations will take place before, during and after elections, monitoring activities such as the opening of polling stations, the voting process, the counting of ballots, and the tabulation of results around election day.
The EU EOM has also announced it will recruit 32 short-term observers from the EU diplomatic community and other partner countries.
The EU EOM chief observer, Nacho Sanchez Amor, a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Spain, is currently in the island at present. He has stated that 80 EU team members will be part of the mission and to remain in Sri Lanka until the first week of October. The EU EOM, consisting of 10 election experts, have been in Sri Lanka since their arrival on 14th of August in Colombo.
Objectives for the mission are to support the democratic process, enhance public confidence in the electoral system, and strengthen respect for human rights and the rule of law in Sri Lanka. Amor explained that the observation mission would assess all aspects and stages of the electoral process, including the legal framework and its implementation, the performance of election administration, the role of state institutions, the voter registration process, campaign activities, and campaign finance, and the overall space for political and civic participation.
“By sending an election observation mission to Sri Lanka, the European Union is reaffirming the depth and fruitfulness of our partnership and our unwavering support for democratic values,” said Chief Observer Amor.
The EU EOM is to issue a preliminary statement two days after the Sri Lankan elections this year, as well as hold a news conference in Colombo. A final report will be shared with stakeholders, detailing a set of recommendations for the future electoral process.
Each year, the EU sends 8 to 10 electoral observation missions worldwide. There have already been 7 visits to Sri Lanka with the first being in 2000 and most recently in 2019. Each visit follows after an invitation from the Sri Lankan Electoral Commission.
The 2019 EU EOM final report on Sri Lanka, found here, details many electoral and political misgivings. The document suggests various recommendations for improvement, some included amendment to the constitution, legislative enactment and new regulations. Significantly, the report on page 49 found that international treaties were not passed into domestic law to have full legal effect in national courts. International treaties not fully passed included the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, also said to be "applied arbitrarily at times", and the United Nations Convention against Corruption.
