International observers arrive in Sri Lanka for presidential election monitoring

Colombo: A group of election observers from the European Union and the Commonwealth have arrived in Sri Lanka to monitor the presidential election on Saturday.

A total of 116 representatives from various international election observation organisations have arrived in Sri Lanka to monitor the upcoming presidential election, the Newsfirst news portal reported on Friday.

Among the observers, 78 are from the European Union (EU), marking a substantial contingent from the EU election observation mission.

The EU has previously done election monitoring in Sri Lanka six times with the last being at the presidential election of 2019.

Additionally, 22 representatives from the Commonwealth have also arrived to participate in the monitoring activities.

The Asian Election Observation Network has sent 9 observers, while 7 representatives from South Asian regional countries have joined the election monitoring process this year, following an invitation from the Election Commission.

These international observers have been deployed across twenty-five districts to carry out their monitoring duties.

The National Election Commission has assured that all necessary measures have been taken to ensure the safety and security of the observers, with local police stations being duly informed of their presence and responsibilities.

Over 17.1 million registered voters are eligible to vote at the election for a direct vote to elect an executive president for a 5-year term. This will be the first election since the worst economic crisis in the country in 73 years.

Polling will take place between 7 am to 5 pm on Saturday at over 13,400 polling stations.

The incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe, the main opposition leader Sajith Premadasa and the Marxist JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake are the front runners with over 17 million of the island’s 21 million population eligible to vote.