COLOMBO, March 12: The European Union team of election observers in Sri Lanka are to focus on the recurrence of problems which they have identified during two previous similar missions in the island nation.

"We will pay particular attention to the problems that occurred in the 2000 and 2001 elections, namely the abuse of state resources, unequal access to the media, electoral violence, problems with voter registration and lack of access to certain polling stations," Mr John Cushnahan, the team leader, told reporters here on Thursday.

The EU polls observers, who would be monitoring Sri Lanka's April 2 parliamentary elections, are to comprise a six-member core team, 20 long-time observers and 40 short-time ones.