JVP to contest local elections alone

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 January 2006, 17:25 GMT]
The politburo of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the Marxist Sinhala Nationalist Party, Monday decided to contest the forthcoming elections to local government authorities in Sri Lanka alone and not in alliance with other political parties, political sources said.

JVP politburo discussed in detail whether to contest the forthcoming elections to local government authorities in alliance with the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). But after lengthy discussion, the politburo decided to field candidates in the local elections alone in order to test its popular support, sources said.

The JVP contested the elections to the local government authorities in the south alone in the year 2000 and captured 219 local government seats. At that time JVP was able to capture power of only one local authority, Tissamaharagama Pradesiya Sabah, sources said.