General election before April - UPFA General Secretary

Lakshmi DE SILVA

The term of office of the present Parliament expires in April next year and more elections at national level without piecemeal elections could be expected soon, UPFA General Secretary and Education Minister Susil Premajayantha told a press conference held at the Mahaweli Centre Colombo yesterday.

Postal voting for the Southern Provincial Council election will be held on September 29 and 30. The UPFA has entered a combination of professionals, retired public servants and war heroes in the list of candidates representing the CP, LSSP, MEP, JNP and SLFP for the fray,” he said.

”It was the people of the Southern Province that voted overwhelmingly to elect President Mahinda Rajapaksa and he gave leadership to defeat terrorism after 30 years of war and now he had turned the dream of Hambantota Port into a reality and other development programs including building new roads in the South and opening of new schools,” he said. At the last Presidential election Mahinda Rajapaksa polled a majority of 311,000 votes from the Southern Province and secured 61 percent of the vote.

The UPFA majority will increase considerably at the forthcoming election. As we will win, there is no need to use violence, he said.