Office of Election Commissioner is not independent – Sharma

According to Commonwealth election observers the Office of the Commissioner of Elections in Sri Lanka is not fully independent says Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma.
Mr. Sharma, addressing the media yesterday (29th) in Colombo said he had discussions with President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Members of the opposition political parties and representatives of civil society. He said he also discussed election experiences, the election process and experiences of the elections held with the Commissioner of Elections. He said that the Commonwealth will send monitors to the next national elections in Sri Lanka.
Speaking further the Secretary General of Commonwealth said, “Commonwealth election observers in Sri Lanka have drawn attention to the fact that the Office of the Commissioner of Elections is not fully independent. The Commonwealth is preparing a compendium of practice from across the full membership concerning the appointment and independence of Electoral Commissions, and will share this with Sri Lanka. We have discussed regarding the challenges that have to be confronted. Attention was also drawn to pre-election violence and using state resources in eh campaign.”
He said the Commissioner of Elections promised that local election monitors would be allowed to monitor the election process completely.