EU poll: UNP, SLMC to contest under Elephant symbol

Rasika Somarathna

COLOMBO: The UNP and the SLMC yesterday decided to jointly contest the upcoming Eastern Provincial Council Election under the elephant symbol.

Both parties have reached this consensus at the UNP Nomination Board meeting which held the Cambridge Terrace yesterday.

Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake, UNP MP Ravi Karunanayake, Former UNP Chairman Malik Samarawickrama and SLMC Leader Rauff Hakeem participated in the discussion.

Meanwhile, with only 48 hours for the nominations' deadline for the Eastern Provincial Council Elections, four political parties and seven independent groups had submitted their list of nominees to contest the polls by noon yesterday.

A total of 41 independent groups have placed deposits in the three districts, Ampara (15), Trincomalee (18) and Batticaloa (08), elections Authorities said.

The Liberal Party and three independent groups have submitted nominations for Ampara.

The Ealavar Democratic Front (EDF) and one other independent group handed over nominations for Batticaloa.

The Jathika Sanwardhene Peramuna (JSP) and United Socialist Party (USP) submitted nominations in Trincomalee district along with three other independent groups. Meanwhile, according to sources the UPFA was putting final touches to their nomination lists yesterday and is expected to hand in the papers tomorrow morning.

However, both the UNP and SLMC were yet undecided about a possible alliance to contest the polls since the crucial round of talks between the two parties on Monday evening. According to sources, the SLMC has put forward several demands to the UNP which was being debated by the party hierarchy at the time of going to press. However a final decision regarding the matter was to be arrived at last evening.

Both the JVP and EPDP are expected to submit their nominations today and tomorrow with discussions regarding another Tamil party alliance backed by several Leftist parties in the south too in the offing.