Commissioner bars monitoring groups with political leanings

Rasika SOMARATHNA

Elections monitoring groups with political party affiliations will not be part of the polls monitoring process, Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya said on Wednesday.

Addressing the media on the forthcoming elections to Eastern, North Central and Sabaragamuwa Provincial Councils, the polls chief said he would ensure such groups will not take part in the monitoring process.

Such groups will not be able to make an impartial assessment and could be a hindrance to the independent polls observing process, he said.

The Commissioner also recalled several such experiences and said that he had seen instances where faxes from the so-called independent monitors coming from a political party office. The Polls Chief said that he had given permission for five local election monitoring groups to observe the conduct of polls at the upcoming elections.

Commenting on the counting of votes the Commissioner said that he was considering allowing a civil group to monitor the process. "This could comprise of professionals such as lawyers, media personal etc." he added.

However he said such a decision will only be taken after discussing the matter with relevant all stake holders.

"If such a group is allowed to observe the counting of votes, it will only be carried out under the supervision of an election department official," he added. The counting of votes has being at the subject of many a dispute at past elections with some candidates claiming foul play after either getting defeated or not obtaining enough preference votes to their expectation.