Eastern poll could trigger widespread re-development

After provincial elections in Sri Lanka's Eastern region concluded on 10 May, some economic recovery and increased assistance from the humanitarian community is likely, according to UN and other officials.

Much of the Eastern Province, which includes Batticaloa, Ampara and Trincomalee districts, was devastated by fighting in 2006-2007 between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the government, with hundreds of thousands of people displaced and homes and livelihoods destroyed.

Most of the displaced have returned to their villages in the past year. The ruling United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA), running against the main opposition parties, the United National Party, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, and the People's Liberation Front, secured the Provincial Council by winning 20 of the 37 seats, although some observers and opposition parties claim the election was marred by irregularities and intimidation.

"The new civil administration structure now in place could provide the stage for programmes that would allow the people to return to their normal lives and regain lost livelihoods," Zola Dowell, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Sri Lanka, told IRIN.

"The elections could also become the start for the return of more stability in the region," she said.

Confidence

A functional, regional administrative structure, the first of its kind in more than 15 years, would also see a shift from the focus on humanitarian work to large-scale, long-term development work, if it can win the confidence of donors and financial institutions, aid officials said.

Despite the elections, security is still very tight throughout the Eastern Province "Despite the criticism of its conduct, the poll is now over and we could see large development banks and others like UN agencies committing to development projects now that there is a proper system and probably more security," Joergen Kristensen, country director of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), an NGO working in the province, told IRIN.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa termed the electoral victory an endorsement of Government policies and pledged to press ahead with development work.

"I look forward to their [the elected members'] cooperation in the country's march to strengthen and widen democracy throughout our country, and to assisting in the tasks already initiated and ahead to develop the Eastern Province," he said in a statement soon after the election results were announced.

The Government gained full control of the province in July 2007 and first held elections for Local Government bodies in Batticaloa District in March 2008, followed by the weekend poll.

More than 124,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) in Eastern Province have returned to their villages as of April 2008, according to OCHA. It said 108,000 of the returners were in Batticaloa District alone, although some 30,000 still remained in the province.

NRC's Kristensen cautioned that before moving into large development work, the return of all IDPs in the province should be completed. "Some of these people have been displaced since 2006," Kristensen told IRIN.

"They have been unable to return home due to a variety of reasons, including the setting-up of high security zones in their former villages ... we hope that the authorities take their cases on a priority basis now that there is hope for more stability."

In addition, the World Food Programme (WFP) found that 62 per cent of returners in Trincomalee District had limited income opportunities, raising concern about their food security.

Some people who witnessed the elections suggest a climate for redevelopment exists but the population needs to wait to see just how the new Provincial Council will proceed.

"There is an opportunity to work for the benefit of the people who have gone through hell, but a lot will depend on how the Government and the elected members, especially those in control of the provincial government, handle their new-found power," Sunanda Deshapriya, an election monitor in Batticaloa for the Colombo-based Centre for Monitoring Election Violence, told IRIN.

IRIN