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EU
mission’s comments ignored, says Cushnahan
In a hard hitting pronouncement, Mr. Cushnahan said the consequences of not implementing the recommendations made by the election observers could be grave and cited the imposing of sanctions by the EU on Zimbabwe in 2002, as a case in point. "It is likely that another team will not be sent again to Sri Lanka. We have been here three times in three years and have found our repeated suggestions ignored. The report that we compile will not end with us. It will be submitted to the officials in Brussels. If we continue to state that all what we recommend are not taken seriously by the government, then Brussels will take a decision at a higher level about how it should deal with Sri Lanka in the future", Mr. Cushnahan said adding that the decision to send an EU election observation team this time round was because the EU wanted to respond to civil society's need for a free and fair election. "There was discussion in Brussels whether or not an EU observation team should be sent to Sri Lanka", he said referring to the invitation extended by the Elections Commissioner to observe the April 2004 election. He further told journalists that the EU resources assisting the strengthening of democracy and human rights were likely to be given to "countries which take action to strengthen democratic institutions and protect human rights". The main recommendations made by the EU after the April 2004 polls mentioned in the EU election report include the setting up of an elections commission, full implementation of the provisions of the 17th Amendment and updating of the voter register including a reliable registration of voters in the LTTE-controlled areas. The final report on the April elections was presented by Mr. Cushnahan to Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake and Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar. Mr. Cushnahan explained that most of the suggestions were repetitive as a majority of the previous suggestions stemming from the EU observation teams coverage of the 2000 and 2001 elections, had not been implemented. Commenting on the manner in which the April polls were conducted Mr. Cushnahan said that "multiple impersonations were witnessed in the north and the east" accusing the LTTE for most of the election related violence reported from the region. |
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