EU deploys observers to monitor Myanmar elections

Nay Pyi Taw, Oct 12: The European Union has deployed 30 long-term election observers to join its core team already in Myanmar to monitor the general elections scheduled for November 8, an official report said on Monday.

The observers will cover all regions, states and territories in both urban and rural areas and will observe the entire electoral process prior, during and after the election, Xinhua news agency reported.

They will be joined by another 62 short-term observers and a delegation of the European Parliament shortly before the election, so that a total of 150 observers from all the 28 EU member states as well as Norway, Switzerland and Canada will be deployed on the election day along with EU diplomats.

The EU election observer mission is led by chief observer Alexander Graf Lambsdorff who is vice president of the European Parliament from Germany.

The EU mission said it will issue a preliminary statement shortly after the election day and a final report with technical recommendations at a later stage.

According to Myanmar's Union Election Commission, a total of 6,074 candidates including 310 independents will run the upcoming general election.

Of the total, 5,764 candidates are nominated from 91 political parties.

The commission has designated 1,163 constituencies for the vote at four levels of the parliament across the country.

IANS