Election monitors arrive

The four member commonwealth election monitoring team and the members of the Federation of Election Management Bodies of South Asia have arrived in the country, according to the Department of Elections.

The Commonwealth team, chaired by former Vice President of Kenya Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka, will be in Sri Lanka till September 28. The other three members of the team are Former Electoral Officer for Victoria, Australia Jenni McMullan, Former Chief Election Commissioner of Bangladesh Dr. Shamsul Huda and Secretary to the Caribbean Association of Local Government Authorities Saint Lucia Examin Philbert. The Commonwealth Secretary-General has constituted the mission at the invitation of Sri Lanka's Commissioner of Elections Mahinda Deshapriya.

A three-person support team deployed from the Commonwealth Secretariat will support the mission. Martin Kasirye, Head of the Democracy Section of the Secretariat's Political Affairs Division, will lead the support team, according to the Commonwealth Secretariat.

- DY