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by Manjula Fernando

John Cushnahan, Chief of the European Union Election Observation Mission, said he was deeply disappointed that the Elections Commissioner cannot fully implement the provisions of the 17th Amendment.

He called on all political parties and all relevant government, State and security bodies to cooperate fully with the Election Commissioner to ensure that the 17th amendment is fully implemented in spirit and the letter of the law.

He was speaking at a media conference held at the Lanka Oberoi. The European monitoring team is here on the invitation of Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake.

The team comprises 48 election observers, 12 Long Term observers (LTO) and 30 Short Term Observers (STO). Some of them had been here for the last year's election.

Cushnahan requested the political parties to steer their supporters away from violence. "I think that will have a much stronger impact than what the authorities can do," he said.

He was of the view that the last election reflected the political will of the electorate to a reasonable degree although there were major concerns in some of the districts.

However, he said it is totally unacceptable for any person to make a statement on cancelling the whole election just because he is unhappy with the result.

The team will set up regional bases in Jaffna, Kandy, Matara, Kurunegala, Anuradhapura, Ampara and Colombo. STOs will form 15 two-person mobile teams to cover polling stations and counting centres in their area of responsibility. The LTOs will be deployed to monitor the pre-election process. They will work closely with other foreign monitors and expect to cover at least 500 polling stations including some in Jaffna. "But at the end of the day we are very anxious to express our own opinion about the election," he said.

He was optimistic about the level of monitoring they will be able to do throughout the country. "We have monitored elections in many countries. Therefore we bring a certain degree of experience with us and I am confident that our team will be able to do a good job," he said.

Ambassador Ilkka Uusitalo, Deputy Chief Observer Anders Eriksson and LTO co-ordinator Carole Coscino, Logistics Advisor Nathalie Renaud, Media Advisor Mary Cummins and Elections Advisor Mark Stevens were also present at the media conference.

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