President writes to Commissioner on nominations
Eastern Provincial Council Election:
Mohammed Naalir
COLOMBO: Mass Media Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardane
yesterday said that President Mahinda Rajapaksa in a letter dated March
7 asked the Commissioner of Elections to declare March 14th as the
nomination date for the Eastern Provincial Council election.
He said that the Commissioner is empowered to take an additional 07
days to announce the nomination date. In any event the nomination date
has to be announced by March 21.
Addressing the media at the Information and Mass Media Ministry
auditorium, Minister Abeywardane said the Government will allocate Rs. 2
million under the Gama Neguma project to each Pradeshiya Sabha and
Municipal Council member to expedite the development work of the
villages.This will be in addition to the major projects now being
implemented in the districts.
He said a free and fair election was held in the Eastern Province for
the first time after the Presidential Election in 1994. Nearly 60 per
cent cast their votes at the local Government elections.
He said only in 1994 the people in the Eastern Province could select
their representatives of their choice.
During the elections held after 1994, the polls were held under the
dictates of the LTTE who chose their own members to Parliament and the
local authorities. The Minister said the Government's aim was to restore
civil administration in the Eastern Province after the ejection of the
LTTE from its soil. The motive of the Government is not to hold on to
land but hand them over to the public for development purposes.
He said the international community had misgivings that there will
not be a free and fair election in Batticaloa. However, the results have
given a clear answer to the international community.
He pointed out that only some 2,000 Sinhala civilians live in
Batticaloa but a Sinhala candidate was returned at the poll. This
demonstrates that the people are only interested in those who deliver
the goods and not in their ethnicity. |
