Sri Lanka's opposition calls international community to monitor election

Sri Lanka's opposition said Tuesday that it fears grave election violations during the presidential elections next month.

Former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumarathunga, who is backing the opposition at the January 8 polls, urged international community to put pressure on the government to ensure a free and fair election.

Kumarathunga said the only direct role the international community has at the election is to monitor the polls, but she fears the government may disrupt that process.

She also said common opposition candidate Maithripala Sirisena will meet diplomatic community before election day to brief them on his concerns and his plans for the country.

Kumarathunga said the election campaign of Maithripala Sirisena is going really well, but the biggest problem is lack of time to do everything they want to do before election day.

"The campaign is going very well. There is immense support at the ground level. We need to organize that and take that to the polling booth. On polling day we suspect that a lot of skullduggery will take place," she added.

The former president further noted that Sirisena's campaign team will implement several strategies to face the skullduggery of the government before election day.

She said the alliance partners of Maithripala Sirisena are working really well together and the "people's power" will counter the lack of time for a proper campaign.

The government has, however, denied the allegations and insisted that it will ensure a free and fair election next month.