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PC polls coming, but will they be fair, asks Opposition
As the Government prepares to hold elections to the Northern, Central and North Western Provincial Councils, the major opposition political parties such as the UNP and the JVP have cast doubts about the elections being free and fair. UNP media spokesman Parliamentarian Tissa Attanayake told the Sunday Times on Friday already military groups in the North are gathering information about the UNP candidates.
“Some of our party representatives from Jaffna today complained to our leader Ranil Wickremesinghe that the military has questioned certain UNP supporters,” he revealed. Addressing the media on Wednesday the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) General Secretary Maithripala Sirisena assured the elections would be free and fair. He said the northern poll is important because it is held after 30 years of deadly war. He said holding a poll in the North is a victory not only to the people there but also to country as a whole.
The Opposition is blind to that reality and comes out with various allegations against the Government, Minister Sirisena said.
However, Mr. Attanayake pointed out that if the Government is honest in its intention it should have appointed a civil governor to the Northern Province instead of a military person. He also said the independent police and election commissions should be re-established and independent election monitors should be brought down.
JVP Parliamentarian Vijitha Herath also voiced similar concerns and said that people could not expect a free and fair election in the absence of independent police and election commissions and in spite of assurances given by the Government. “Our previous experience is that the Government will use the Police and other resources to its advantage,” he said.
Minister Sirisena said his party is getting ready for the polls. He advised all SLFP aspirant candidates to hand over their applications before July 1 to the SLFP headquarters. He added that the nominations boards have already been appointed and will consider these applications after July 1.
He also said most probably the elections for the three provinces will be held on the same day “We have already notified our organizers in the relevant district to prepare for the upcoming elections,” Mr. Sirisena said. The UNP too has already appointed three working committees to conduct the election and the candidates are being interviewed, Mr. Attanayake said.
However, the nomination boards would be appointed only after the Government made the official announcement, he said.
The JVP’s Vijitha Herath said that as soon as the Government dissolves the Provincial Councils his party would prepare for the elections. The JVP will contest in all three provincial councils alone.
Commenting on amendments to the Constitution Mr. Herath said it was just media publicity to hide real issues such as increased electricity tariffs, with the Government having few trumps cards to play, adding that shedding of what is not favourable to the Government in the 13th Amendment would not be an answer to the national question, he said. “The position of the JVP throughout was to abolish the provincial councils,” he said.
The Government has understood the local and international significance of the Northern Provincial Council election, noted Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva addressing the media on Wednesday. He said parties belonging to the UPFA will field a single list of candidates and said tthe UPFA desired more and more parties to field their candidates for the Northern Provincial Council poll.
“We want democracy to win. The Government wants to give back the lost freedom, as it has done in the Eastern Province, he added.
The Government will closely monitor the activities of the SLFP candidates during the election to create a better political culture in the country, the Minister said.
Vote-less DPLs to be registered in supplementary list
Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya told the Sunday Times that once the Commission received the new Registration of Electors Act he would issue notice for the people to register. He said that Sri Lankan citizens in the Northern and the Eastern Provinces who have been displaced due to the war and not been registered elsewhere in the country will be registered in the ‘supplementary list’.
The people who have been displaced from the Northern Province and who have not been registered elsewhere as voters could be registered in the supplementary list. “They will be eligible to vote at the upcoming election in respect of the Northern Province,” he declared.
Flashback
The last election to the Central Provincial Council was held after defeating the LTTE in 2009. The ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance secured 36 seats including two bonus seats in the three districts of Kandy, Matale and Nuwara eliya. The Opposition UNP secured 22 seats. Around 59% of the votes were for the UPFA while 39% voted for the UNP and nearly one percent voted for the JVP.
Out of 1,746,449 registered voters a total of 1,167,336 (67%) voted in the election. Contesting the election were 16 political parties.
The last poll for the North Western Provincial Council was held in the same year in which the UPFA secured 37 seats including two bonus seats out of a total of 50 seats in Kurunegala and Puttalam districts. The UNP secured 14 seats while the JVP secured one seat. Nearly 69% of the voters cast their votes for the UPFA and 28% for the UNP and nearly two percent for the JVP.
Out of 1,661,733 registered voters in the province 1,009,860 (61%) cast their votes.
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