The leading Tamil political party has called for international monitors to be deployed to monitor polls during the Eastern Provincial Council elections, after threats of violence and concerns over electoral fraud.
The Tamil National Alliance filed the request with the Election Commissioner and have stated that the matter would be discussed on August the 3rd. The request comes after former MP M.K. Sivajilingam told the Daily Mirror recently that two candidates withdrew after receiving threats from groups linked to the ruling UPFA.
Candidates K Thurairajasingham and Indrakumar Prasanna were both recently threatened by paramilitary groups, with reports that harassment of Tamil politicians has increased since the dissolution of the eastern provincial council.
See the report from TamilNet here.