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Wednesday, March 12, 2008 - 4.40 GMT |
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Elections to Eastern Provincial Council |
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President Mahinda Rajapaksa has directed the
Commissioner General of Elections to announce the
date calling for nominations to the first ever
elections to the Eastern Provincial Council.
The Commissioner General has been asked by the
President to fix nominations from March 14, 08.
However, the Commissioner General is able to take up
to seven more days for this, and subsequently to
schedule the election.
The conduct of elections to the Eastern Provincial
Council is a key part of the government’s decision
to implement the 13th Amendment to the Constitution,
as recommended by the All Party Representative
Committee (APRC) in the search for an end to the
ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka.
In his Address to Nation on the 60th anniversary of
Independence on February 4th this year President
Rajapaksa said: “We are already taking steps to
enable the people in the Eastern Province liberated
from terrorism, to enjoy their democratic rights. We
are expeditiously holding elections that will ensure
to people hitherto subdued in silence, the exercise
of their democratic right to elect one’s own
representatives.”
Accordingly, elections to the Local Government
bodies of the Batticaloa District of the Eastern
Province were held on March 10, where there was a
peaceful and brisk poll with more than 55% of those
registered voting. This election saw the TVMP, a
group that broke away from the LTTE, enter
democratic stream and contest the polls along with
other democratic parties.
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