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Eastern provincial council polls in May

COLOMBO: Elections to the eastern provincial council will be held in May, Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama announced on Wednesday. Separately, the military claimed that at least 30 cadres of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam were killed in the north.

At a news conference here, Mr Bogollagama said the successful completion of the Batticaloa local bodies’ election would augur well for the Provincial Council elections in May as recommended by the All Party Representative Committee (APRC) on January 23.

On the APRC recommendation for an interim provincial set-up in the north, parts of which are under LTTE control, the Minister said there was “some delay” in finalising names for the proposed set-up. President Mahinda Rajapaksa is expected to complete the exercise “soon.”

On Monday’s Batticaloa elections, the Minister said: “It must be remembered that the elections held on Monday would have been inconceivable a year ago if not for the successful clearing of the East of LTTE terrorism and the restoration of normalcy. It is also noteworthy that these military operations were conducted with great care to ensure minimal disruption to civilian life.”

The successful conduct of the elections had shown that the government would deliver on its promises to restore normalcy in the areas affected by the present conflict, he said.

The government for the first time in 20 years made a commitment to see that the 13th Amendment was implemented to benefit the areas it intended to serve, he said.

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