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Commonwealth to observe Sri Lanka General Election

24 March 2004

Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon today announced that a Commonwealth Observer Group will be present for the General Election in Sri Lanka, scheduled for 2 April 2004. The Group will be led by Hon Margaret Reid, former Chair of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and former President of the Australian Senate.

Mr McKinnon said that the Observer Group has been established in response to an invitation from the Commissioner of Elections, Mr Dayananda Dissanayake, and with the support of Sri Lanka's main political parties. It will consist of eight eminent Commonwealth citizens, supported by six Commonwealth Secretariat staff. The Observers are as follows:

Hon Margaret Reid - Chairperson, Former President of the Senate and former Chair of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, Australia          

Rt Hon Paul East - Former Minister and former High Commissioner to the UK, New Zealand 

Mr Robert Jamieson - Editor-in-Chief, The Chronicle, Malawi

Ms Joycelyn Lucas - Former Chief Election Officer, Trinidad and Tobago 

Mr J M Lyngdoh - Former Chief Election Commissioner, India

Mr Benno Pflanz - Former High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Canada

Dr Ashique Selim - Commonwealth Youth Ambassador & member of the Commonwealth Youth Caucus for Asia, Bangladesh

Ms Ilona Tip - Senior Adviser (Conflict Management), Electoral Institute of Southern Africa, South Africa

 The Staff Support Team will be led by Mr Syed Sharfuddin, Special Adviser, Political Affairs Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat. 

The Observers have been invited in their individual capacities and the views they express regarding the elections will be their own and not those either of their respective Governments or of the Commonwealth Secretariat.

 Note to Editors:

 An Assessment Missionvisited Sri Lankain February 2004. The Observer Group will start its work on Thursday 25 March 2004. This will be the 43rd Observer Group to have been constituted since October 1990.

 The Terms of Reference for the Observer Group are as follows:

 'The Group is established by the Commonwealth Secretary-Generalat the request of the Commissioner of Elections of Sri Lanka. It is to observe relevant aspects of the organisation and conduct of the General Election scheduled to take place on 2 April 2004, in accordance with the laws of Sri Lanka. It is to consider the various factors impinging on the credibility of the electoral process as a whole and to determine in its own judgement whether the conditions exist for a free expression of will by the electors and if the results of the elections reflect the will of the people.

 The Group is to act impartially and independently. It has no executive role; its function is not to supervise but to observe the process as a whole and to form a judgement accordingly. It would also be free to propose to the authorities concerned such action on institutional, procedural and other matters as would assist the holding of such elections. 

The Group is to submit its report to the Commonwealth Secretary-General, who will forward it to the Government of Sri Lanka, the Commissioner of Elections, the leadership of the political parties taking part in the elections and thereafter to all Commonwealth Governments.'

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