SL parliamentary election: low turnout in morning

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 April 2010, 08:42 GMT]
Polling began Thursday morning to elected a 196 member parliament but a poor turnout was reported from many parts of the country, according to monitoring and observers group. The turnout was about 25 to 30 percent by about noon, monitoring sources said.

Meanwhile Colombo media quoted the Advisor to the Elections Commissioner Bandula Kulathunge as saying that his secretariat has received complaints that supporters of the Resettlement Minister harassing private bus owners transporting uprooted voters to polling booths to cast their votes

Advisor to the Elections Commissioner Bandula Kulathunga has reportedly said the uprooted voters have been transported by the private buses to polling stations in the Wanni District, provided by the Elections Secretariat. But Minister Bathiudeen’s supporters have allegedly taken over some of the private buses provided for uprooted voters by the Elections Secretariat.