Colombo, Aug 30 (PTI) The European Union on Friday said its election monitors for the September 21 presidential polls have been deployed in all nine provinces, highlighting the importance of fortifying the democratic institutions “through the ballot box.” The European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) was launched on August 14 with the arrival of 10 experts while on Thursday, 26 long-term observers were deployed to all nine provinces of the island.
“This election is crucial to fortify democratic institutions through the ballot box. Hence it will be important that the election is conducted peacefully in a transparent and inclusive manner and that all voters and candidates retain confidence in the process and the outcome,” chief observer Sanchez Amor, a Spaniard and a member of the European Parliament, said.
The observers’ teams will meet voters, election officials, politicians and civil society across cities, small towns and in villages too.
The EU polls observers would, through a post election report, mark recommendations for future electoral reforms, he said.
The election promises to be a closely contested affair with 38 candidates, including the incumbent Ranil Wickremesinghe, in the fray.
Over 17.1 million registered voters out of the total population of 21 million are eligible to vote.
This will be the first election since Sri Lanka plunged into economic crisis when the island nation declared sovereign default in mid-April of 2022, its first since gaining independence from Britain in 1948.
The EU had commenced polls monitoring in Sri Lanka from the year 2000. PTI CORR NPK NPK
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