04-01-2004, 12:14 AM
<span style='color:red'>EPDP failed to cooperate with election monitors PAFFREL
Apr 1, 2004, 00:07 [TNS]
Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) failed to cooperate with the election monitors appointed by the Peoples Action for Free and Fair Election (PAFFREL), to observe the general elections on tomorrow, says PAFFREL chair, Mr. Kingsly Rodrigo.
Mr. Rodrigo said the EPDP party does not seem to cooperate with the election monitoring process. He further stated that this would create 'problem' in monitoring the elections properly and in maintaining law and order in the country, both before and after the elections.
He said the EPDP continues to make baseless allegations against the PAFFREL, that it deploys LTTE sympathizers as poll observers in the north and east. The EPDP has rejected the election monitors now deployed in the North by PAFFREL. According to Mr. Rodrigo, there are 1000 locals that have been trained to monitor elections in the north but the EPDP have rejected them.
In view of the baseless allegations, Mr. Rodrigo said that PAFFREL has decided to send eight international observers and another local team led by Wimal Fernando president of the Movement for Free and Fair Election (MFFE) to the north, in time for the polls.
It is up to the political parties and their leaders to build a good understanding with the election monitors and further cooperate with them in their election monitoring exercises, Mr Rodrigo further said.
Meanwhile, a rival monitoring group to PAFFREL, the centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV), came under fire yesterday for its decision to deploy for the first time, only Sinhalese election observers to the north without any local Tamils.
Many in the north say the CMEV's Mr. Paikaisothy Saravanamuttu's unprecedented decision to exclude Tamil monitors in north was designed to discredit the ability of the people in the north to hold free and fair polls in north. This is a slap in the face for north and a grievous insult on the credibility and impartiality of those of us in the north, a Jaffna University lecturer told TNS.
This has been the root cause of all the problems. In the past it was always the case that the will of the majority be imposed on the minority. It is a sheer tragedy that with all this talk of peace, this still hasn't changed and the election monitoring body itself has become a victim to this attitude, he further said. </span>
Apr 1, 2004, 00:07 [TNS]
Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) failed to cooperate with the election monitors appointed by the Peoples Action for Free and Fair Election (PAFFREL), to observe the general elections on tomorrow, says PAFFREL chair, Mr. Kingsly Rodrigo.
Mr. Rodrigo said the EPDP party does not seem to cooperate with the election monitoring process. He further stated that this would create 'problem' in monitoring the elections properly and in maintaining law and order in the country, both before and after the elections.
He said the EPDP continues to make baseless allegations against the PAFFREL, that it deploys LTTE sympathizers as poll observers in the north and east. The EPDP has rejected the election monitors now deployed in the North by PAFFREL. According to Mr. Rodrigo, there are 1000 locals that have been trained to monitor elections in the north but the EPDP have rejected them.
In view of the baseless allegations, Mr. Rodrigo said that PAFFREL has decided to send eight international observers and another local team led by Wimal Fernando president of the Movement for Free and Fair Election (MFFE) to the north, in time for the polls.
It is up to the political parties and their leaders to build a good understanding with the election monitors and further cooperate with them in their election monitoring exercises, Mr Rodrigo further said.
Meanwhile, a rival monitoring group to PAFFREL, the centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV), came under fire yesterday for its decision to deploy for the first time, only Sinhalese election observers to the north without any local Tamils.
Many in the north say the CMEV's Mr. Paikaisothy Saravanamuttu's unprecedented decision to exclude Tamil monitors in north was designed to discredit the ability of the people in the north to hold free and fair polls in north. This is a slap in the face for north and a grievous insult on the credibility and impartiality of those of us in the north, a Jaffna University lecturer told TNS.
This has been the root cause of all the problems. In the past it was always the case that the will of the majority be imposed on the minority. It is a sheer tragedy that with all this talk of peace, this still hasn't changed and the election monitoring body itself has become a victim to this attitude, he further said. </span>
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