EIGHTEEN of the 40 election observers from the European Union are in the country.

The full team is expected to be here by the end of this month to observe the electoral process from May 6 to 13 and to ensure that a fair election is conducted.

Following an invitation from the Fiji Government, the European Union established an Election Observation Mission (EOM) to observe the elections.

This is the first European Union EOM deployed to a country in the Pacific region.

Deputy chief observer, Carlo Accame said the key objective of the EOM was to undertake a comprehensive assessment of the entire electoral process in accordance with international principles for genuine elections and strengthen the confidence of political contestants and voters to freely participate in the process.

"We would be looking at how the electoral process is carried out and how it would be developing and whether international standards are met or not. It is very important to watch the behavior of everyone involved with the election," said Mr Accame.

The European Union EOM would assess the legal and administrative framework, the political environment, the media conduct as well as the voting, counting and tabulation process.

Shortly after the elections date, the EU EOM would issue an interim statement on the conduct of the election and after two months of the entire election process has been completed, a comprehensive final report would be published.

Mr Accame said this report would also include where appropriate recommendation to be made to improve the conduct of future elections.