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Jaffna, Vavuniya council polls on August 8

COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan Election Commission on Thursday announced that the elections for the Jaffna Municipal Council and the Vavuniya Urban council are to be held on August 8.

The elections to Jaffna and Vavuniya councils would be the first such exercise in the in the north in the post-Prabakaran scenario. As per the Deputy Elections Commissioner of Jaffna P. Kumanathan, the number of registered voters within the Municipality area is over 1,00,000.

“Plans are afoot to afford an opportunity to all voters to exercise their franchise,” he said. The war-displaced from Jaffna and Vavuniya and Muslims expelled by the LTTE in 1990 currently sheltered in temporary camps in Puttalam would be eligible to vote.

On the last day for filing of nomination papers, the pro-LTTE Tamil National Alliance (TNA) submitted its list of 29 candidates contesting the Jaffna election.

The TNA announced that S.N.G Nathan would be its “principal candidate” for the list for Vavuniya Wednesday. In Jaffna, the three-party coalition consisting of EPRLF Varathar front, PLOTE and Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) tendered its nomination list with Veerasingham Anandasangaree as its principal candidate.

Earlier, the ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA), United National Party (UNP), Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and two independent groups, one headed by Abimanasingham Manickasothy and the other formed by displaced Muslims of Jaffna filed nominations.

“We do not believe that the elections are going to be free and fair. The burning of newspapers on the eve of nominations raises a big question,” TNA MPs Mavai Senathirajah and Suresh Premachandran told a news conference in Jaffna.

The TamilNet quoted the MPs as saying the government is fully responsible for the attack on newspapers that took place when two of its Ministers are camping in Jaffna.

“A vicious propaganda is being made that the TNA is divided, but we stand together in all respect and take decisions in our central committee,”

the TamilNet quoted them as saying.

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