The mandate of the EU Election Observation Mission

BY CHANDANI Jayatilleke

EUROPEAN Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) headed by Chief Observer, John Cushnahan (Ireland) and 28-members are currently in Sri Lanka, to observe the November 17 Presidential poll.

The Observation Mission was set up on an invitation of the Commissioner for Elections of Sri Lanka.

Cushnahan already counts experience in election monitoring missions in Sri Lanka, having led previous observing teams in 2000, 2001 and 2004 Presidential and Parliamentary elections.

The Daily News interviewed John Cushnahan to find out the responsibilities of the mission. Following are excerpts of the interview:

The mandate of the EU EOM

The mandate is to protect democracy throughout the elections procedure from campaigning to polling.

The EU considers the observation of elections to be an important component of its policy in promoting democratisation and human rights throughout the world. The EU undertakes such activities on the basis of partnership with the host country and with the objective of national capacity.

The key objectives of the EU EOM are to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the electoral process, offer an impartial and balanced assessment of the elections and strengthen the confidence of voters to participate in polling freely.

When there are monitoring teams, people have confidence and they learn to trust elections.

And the percentage of polling would increase. What inspires me about Sri Lanka is that despite all the violence political and otherwise - and intimidation, around 70 per cent to 80 per cent of the ordinary people have voted in previous elections, which is quite contrary to the situation in Europe. In Europe people take elections for granted.

During our mission, we will examine the legislative framework, the election administration, the political environment, the election campaign, voting, counting and tabulation procedures and any complaints and appeals. This approach is based on internationally accepted standards for election observation.

Strengths

In addition to the Chief Observer, the mission has a core team of experts in different fields and they all have vast experience in monitoring elections in various countries in the world.

The team comprises Deputy Chief Observer, Delphine Blanchet (France), legal and electoral expert Idoia Aranceta (Spain), media expert Andrea Malnati (Italy), Observer Coordinator, Hannah Roberts (UK), operations expert, Miguel Arranz (Belgium) and security expert Juan Garcia (Spain).

At present there are 22 long-term observers stationed in 11 districts and about another 50 short-term observers are scheduled to arrive and join to observe polling and counting procedures. All these personnel have much experience as election observers elsewhere in the world.

Priority areas

We will put emphasis on the whole country and there are no priority areas, although the North and East have been highlighted very much.

Our monitors will be deployed across the entire island, not only the North and East.

He said he is aware that there could be trouble in uncleared areas during polling. There's been a lot of speculation over what the militant groups would do to block people using their voting rights.

Recalling his previous experiences in Sri Lanka, Cushnahan said there had been an encouraging trend away from election violence.

In 2000, 50 people were killed. In 2002, 43 people died and on the last occasion in 2004 only five people died.

This clearly shows that the number of people dying in election related violence is reducing significantly. This is a remarkable improvement. And we hope that the things would be much improved this time.

Meetings and deliberations

I have asked all the candidates if they would like to meet me. At this stage the only one that was able to do so was the UNP candidate.

I understand that the candidates are very busy campaigning but I will issue a second invitation offering to meet them or someone nominated by them. Cushnahan praised the Commissioner and his staff for taking every measure to conduct free and fair elections.

We continue to have regular meetings with officials of the election administration, other relevant authorities, political parties, candidates, civil society, other observer groups and the media. On election day observers will follow the voting, counting and tabulation procedures throughout the whole country.

The EU Mission does not intend to talk to LTTE representatives as they are not involved in the democratic elections process. But its monitors will be deployed in all areas including those outside Government control.

The Elections Commissioner has said that in the event of malpractices on polling day, he would hold re-elections in affected areas two days later.

Cushnahan said in the event of re-polling taking place, EU monitors will take up that task too. And he praised the duties and responsibilities undertaken by the Elections Commissioner and his staff for their kind and cooperative attitude shown so far.

Although the last three polls in 2000, 2001 and 2004 had involved corruption and intimidation, it did not have material impact on the outcome.

In particular, the 2004 parliamentary elections set an example towards more peaceful elections and the political parties were more committed to democracy without violence. I hope this trend will continue this time too.

Media monitoring

We cannot comment fully on how the media is reporting and covering the elections as yet. We just started the media monitoring and cannot give any assessment now itself.

However, we believe that the media has a large role to play and they have enormous responsibility as far as the election is concerned.

We would also like to meet the heads of media institutions. As far as the election campaign is concerned, so far it has been quite smooth.

The EU EOM to Sri Lanka was established on October 23 and will remain in the country until the completion of the electoral process.

After the elections, the EU EOM will issue its statement of preliminary findings and conclusions based on their observation of the entire process. A more comprehensive final report will be issued approximately two months after the elections.

The final report will include recommendations to improve the conduct of future elections in the country, he said.