Sri Lanka Tamil party seeks international monitors for the Eastern Provincial Council elections

Sri Lanka's major Tamil constituent Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has requested from the Election Commissioner to deploy international monitors to monitor the polls of the Eastern Provincial Council.
TNA sources say that the Election Commissioner has agreed to discuss the matter with the political party secretaries that contest the election. A meeting of the party secretaries is scheduled to be held on August 03. The Election Commissioner has told that a special meeting of the political parties contesting the Eastern Provincial Council from Batticaloa district will also be held. TNA has claimed that mass scale election frauds took place in the Batticaloa district at the Provincial Council elections held in 2008. According to the election watchdog People's Action For Free & Fair Elections (PAFFREL) attacks by the LTTE on civilian targets as an attempt to defeat democracy was a major violation during the 2008 elections for Eastern Province.