Brussels, 10/03/2004 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has just deployed an EU Election Observation Mission (EOM) to Sri Lanka for the Parliamentary Elections on 2 April. This is the third mission of its kind and, for the third time, EU observers are headed by John Cushnahan, Fine Gael MEP. The European Commissioner for External Relations, Chris Patten, notes in a press release that the electoral campaign has so far been marked by violence and killings. He calls on the political leaders to ensure that the rest of the campaign is conducted in a peaceful atmosphere, refraining from "any rhetoric which risks stirring up religious or ethnic intolerance or undermining the important gains that have been made in the peace process" (Ed.: between the government and the LTTE (Tamil Tigers). Mr Patten recalls that the EU, as co-president of the Tokyo Conference on reconstruction and development of Sri Lanka, has taken on a special responsibility in this respect. John Cushnahan, for his part, noted in a press release that these elections are unfolding "at a crucial moment in Sri Lanka's turbulent history" and that the situation is further complicated by the emerging split in the LTTE between its northern and eastern divisions. The MEP recalls that the conflict between the LTTE and the successive Sri Lankan governments has claimed over 60,000 lives.