Foreign observers invited for SL parliamentary polls

Colombo, March 12 (IANS) Sri Lanka's National Election Commission (EC) has invited foreign observers for the April 25 parliamentary polls.Commission member S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole told the Daily Mirror newspaper on Thursday that observers from the European Union (EU), Commonwealth and the Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) have been invited. The international observers, who will be deployed around the country, will submit their observations and recommendations after the polls are over. The EU, Commonwealth and ANFREL had also observed the November 16, 2019 presidential election in the island nations.On March 2, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa dissolving Parliament paving the way for the upcoming polls which will elect 225 members to the House.The President also fixed May 14 for the new Parliament to meet.Sri Lanka's Parliament was dissolved after four and a half years, which is the legal limit.During the dissolution period, the country was being run by a caretaker government with Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and a cabinet of ministers, while all state ministers and deputy ministers lost their posts.An estimated 16 million people are expected to vote in April.
--IANS ksk/