News
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A
look at some local council elections Elections
were held for twelve of the eighteen local councils in the Digamadulla
district and twelve of the thirteen local councils in the Trincomalee
district . In
a record showing the TNA wrested control of the Thirukovil and Alaiyadivembu
Pradeshiya Sabhas by winning all nine seats and won four of the
five seats of the newly created Karaitivu Pradeshiya Sabaha. The Elections Commissioner had already gazetted their appointments which will take effect from April 15. Elections were also held on Thursday to 12 other local councils including two urban councils and ten Pradeshiya Sabahs in the Trincomalee district. After 12 years the TNA took control of the 66-year-old Trincomalee Urban Council winning 10 of 12 seats polling 16,368 votes while the other two seats were won by an independent group which polled 4,286 votes. The JVP with 895 votes and the EPDP with 259 votes fell far below the required percentage to qualify for seat allocation. Though the UPFA, UNP and SLMC did not contest under their party symbols they contested as independent groups. Two Muslims of the independent group – Sultan Farook, UPFA and Noor Mohamed, UNP topped the list in preferential votes. A.H. Shahul Hameed a member of the TNA list was also among one of the ten elected councillors, nine of whom are Tamils including one woman. They are S. Gowrimuhunthan, K. Selvarasa, K. Thurairasa, J. Pulendraraj, P. Muniandy, S. Arulselvam, T. Karikalan, R.N. Varathan, A.H. Shahul Hameed and R. Kanmani Amma. It was in 1884 under the British rule that the local government system was introduced to Trincomalee. Till 1933 an institution called "Local Board" administered Trincomalee and from 1933 to 1939 another local institution named the "Local Development Board" administered the town. It was raised to Urban Council status on January 1, 1940 though repeated requests made by the civil society to upgrade the UC to Municipal Council status remains unattended. The Trincomalee UC administration which took office after the 1994 elections was dissolved in 1999 after an extension of one year but since then the UC was directly administered by the central government. Trincomalee town has been the administrative capital of the North-East provincial council since 1988 when the provincial councils system was introduced under the thirteenth amendment to the constitution. The TNA won control of the Trincomalee town and Gravets Pradeshiya Sabha winning six of the nine seats with 10,573 votes. The UPFA won two seats with 3,469 votes, the UNP won one seat with 2,388 votes and the JVP polling only 828 votes failed to qualify for a seat. The Trincomalee PS derives its revenue mainly from the Prima flour milling complex, Mitsubishi
cement company and other industrial ventures which are located within
the Trinco PS boundary. Kinniya hot springs, a tourist attraction
located along Trincomalee - Anuradhapura Road also comes under its
authority. Some ten thousand Tamil voters living in the LTTE-held Muttur east villages who were eligible to vote were allowed to cast their vote at cluster polling stations located in no-man’s land between army and LTTE-controlled areas. At last year’s president election the cluster polling stations were situated one km inside government-controlled areas. This was on a directive of the Supreme Court. But for the local council elections the elections department reintroduced the earlier procedure adopted at the parliamentary election. An election department official said buses were sent in to LTTE villages to transport voters to the polling centres in no-man’s land while the LTTE had also set up its own transport service to take voters to their allotted polling centres. At the election to the Muttur Pradeshiya Sabha which consists of 11 seats, independent group -2 polled 16,969 votes winning seven seats while the TNA polled 12,004 winning four seats. The EPDP in a sad showing polled 34 and independent group 1 only polled 25 votes. The UNP won control of the Kinniya Urban Council, a newly created local council by winning four seats while the UPFA won two seats with one by the TNA. Meanwhile the UNP won control of the Kuchchaveli Pradeshiya Sabha with five seats and the TNA winning four seats. At the Seruvila Pradeshiya the UPFA won five seats, the UNP 2, the JVP 1 and the TNA 1. Elections
largely free and fair say monitors PAFFREL deployed a total of 15,825 observers. Of them 14,825 were stationary observers while 1,000 were used as mobile observers, covering all districts where polling took place. “A major shortcoming at this election was the flagrant violation of election laws relating to the display of posters, cut-outs and banners. The election authorities were unable to either prevent these from being put up or to remove them in an effective way due to the large numbers. In addition, both the ruling party and the UNP abused state resources, such as vehicles, wherever possible, in conducting their campaigns. The ruling party utilized the state media to their partisan advantage”, PAFFREL said. Meanwhile the Centre for Monitoring Election Violence, the other local monitoring group in its observations on the polls said the polling was relatively violence free, but however raised concerns on the level of violence reported at this local council election was higher than that of last years presidential election. |
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