Friday, August 01, 2008
Asian foreign observers arrive for Armm polls (11:50 a.m.)
By Cheng Ordoņez
ZAMBOANGA CITY -- Twenty-two Comelec-accredited international election observers from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, arrived in the country to observe the conduct of the elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm).
They will be formally presented to Comelec Chairman Jose A. R. Melo noon Friday.
The international election observers will be fielded to all the provinces under the Armm after a briefing-orientation.
The Asian Network for Free Elections (Anfrel), in collaboration with the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) coordinated the international election observation mission.
Anfrel has also partnered with 16 partner Muslim civil society organizations, and the Assembly of the Darul Ifta of the Philippines for the said mission.
Anfrel's effort is being conducted with support from The Asia Foundation and the Canadian International Development Agency (Cida).
Anfrel was established in 1997, as Asia's first regional network of civil society organizations.
It strives to promote and support democratization at the national and regional levels in Asia.
Somsri Hananuntasuk of Thailand is the Executive Director for Anfrel and the former Chair of Amnesty International, Thailand.
She has observed elections in more than 15 countries in Asia and has organized about 30 missions for more than 1,000 international observers to be deployed in different parts of Asia. (Sunnex) |
