UPFA wins NWPC as Central, Uva PCs await elections

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 April 2004, 03:15 GMT]
The United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) won the provincial elections held Saturday for the North West Provincial Council. According to the Elections Department, the UPFA obtained 59.10% of the votes cast, winning 31 seats, and the United National Party (UNP) won 19 seats, obtaining 37.53% of the votes.

The 31 seats of the UPFA include two bonus seats. The People’s Alliance, which was transformed into UPFA through an alliance with the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) before the General Election, thus continues to control the NWPC.

The Puttalam and Kurunagala districts come under the NWPC.

The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), which is a partner of the UNP in the United National Front (UNF), contested the NWPC elections separately and won 2 seats. The turnout was said to be low, with less than 50% of the eligible voters casting their votes, sources said.

Meanwhile, the life term of two more provincial councils--Central and Uva- ends Monday and Tuesday respectively, election department sources said. There has been no decision so far on when the elections will be held for these provinces.

Kandy, Matale and Nuwaraeliya districts come under the Central Provincial Council, and the districts of Moneragala and Badulla come under the Uva Provincial Council. The Central Provincial Council is being administered by the UNF and the Uva is in the hands of People’s Alliance, sources said.