President appeals for 'valuable' vote

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 January 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Leaflets from Sri Lankan President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga exhorting the people of Jaffna to cast their vote at the forthcoming local elections are being distributed from today by the Sri Lanka Army, said sources in Jaffna.

The SLA distributed these leaflets, bearing a photograph of the SL President at military checkpoints in Jaffna.

The leaflet concluded with the appeal by the President to the Jaffna people to "cast their valuable vote", said the sources.

The SLA, has taken pains, at least outwardly, to maintain an aura of impartiality until now.

It has also implemented the election law to the letter by removing and defacing posters of the Tamil parties contesting elections.

Election law in Sri Lanka forbids the display posters and hoardings at local elections, though the law was observed more in the breach at local elections in the southern parts of Sri Lanka in March 1997.