EU called on free and fair election in North

The long awaited polls in the country’s war-torn Northern Province is very much welcomed by the European Parliament as part of the international community, a parliamentary delegation said today while emphasizing on the importance of a free and fair election.

These are elections that we wanted to see held,” Jean Lambert, Chair of theEuropean Parliament Delegation for Relations with the Countries of South Asia, said during a press briefing in Colombo. On a question regarding the participation of EU monitors for the election, she stated that the European Parliament in its monitoring programme, with other institutions of the EU, generally monitors only national level elections. “We do not however underestimate for one minute the importance of these elections in the Northern Province,” she pointed out. She stated that if it’s free, fair and if people are allowed to campaign freely, not just allowed to cast their vote on election day, that will be important. The Member of the European Parliament (MEP) stated that it’s also an important step in moving the political process “a little bit further” forward and in “trust building”. She reiterated that the European Parliament does not underestimate the importance of the election in the war-torn North. Ms Lambert said that the polls are important because part of what they hear when looking at the Lessons Leant and Reconciliation Commission report and statement made by the government in the past about the importance of fulfilling the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. “Those elections represent the fulfillment of those promises,” she said. That sort of development of democratic progression is important as also move away from the fears that some have about a return of violence, she said.