Southern Provincial Council election:

UPFA house-to-house campaign begins next week

Chaminda PERERA

The National Election Steering Committee headed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa has put in place a comprehensive election campaign aimed to obtain a resounding victory for the UPFA at the forthcoming Southern Provincial Council election.

The UPFA will begin the campaign next week with visits to every house in the province. A total of 580,000 houses in the province is expected to be covered before the election.

Transport Minister Dullas Alahapperuma said President Mahinda Rajapaksa will address three major rallies to be held in the Matara, Hambantota and Galle districts while Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayaka and other Senior Cabinet Ministers are expected to participate in another 23 main rallies in the Southern Province.

Addressing a press briefing at the Mahaweli Centre, the Minister said there will also be election meetings at electorate level.

“We expect to hold 1412 pocket meetings in the province and 20 Electoral Committees have already been set up in each electorate to streamline the election campaign at village level” , he said.

Over 1.7 million voters in the province are qualified to vote to elect 53 members to the Southern Provincial Council on October 10. We carried out an indepth study on how the election campaign should be strengthened in the areas where the UPFA is weak before the nominations were handed in, the Minister said.

The Minister said the Government received 63% of majority votes from the Hambantota district while 61% from Matara and 57% from the Galle districts at the last Presidential election.