EU observers call for violence-free polls in Sri Lanka

European Union election observers on Tuesday called for violence free parliamentary elections in Sri Lanka as they began their observation work ahead of the August 17 polls.

Cristian Preda, chief observer of the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) who recently arrived in Sri Lanka told journalists in the capital Colombo that its observers would be deployed in all nine provinces of the island nation and they hoped the polls would be conducted in a civilized atmosphere.

"We are here for many weeks and I am sure the experience of our experts will be very useful for the analysis of the entire process. I also hope that the climate will be a good one without violence and with a very civilized atmosphere," Preda said.

"We will try to cover all the territory before the polls and tomorrow I will leave for Jaffna. I will be also travelling to other parts of the country including the eastern part, the southern part and the central part. That is my work as an election observer," he added.

The EU observers, who are here on an invitation from the Sri Lankan Elections Commissioner to observe next month's polls, will be meeting government and electoral officials, candidates and representatives from the political parties and the civil society during their deployment in all the nine provinces.

"We are here to observe the elections just as we do in all other parts of the world when we are invited. We are not here to teach democracy or to teach elections. We are here with our experts to analyze the process and the members of the mission will remain neutral and abide by the EU election observation code of conduct and Sri Lankan laws," Preda said.

The EU EOM in Sri Lanka is comprised of eight core team members, 18 long term members and 28 short term observers from the EU member states, Norway and Switzerland.

A delegation from the European Parliament and locally recruited short term observers from EU member state embassies' in Sri Lanka will also join the mission on election day. The observers will be deployed to all the electoral districts of the country. This is the first time in 10 years that the EU team has been invited to Sri Lanka to observe an election