Conditions in NE not conducive to hold local elections - GAs

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 June 2007, 15:07 GMT]
The Government Agents in the north and eastern provinces who are also designated as Assistant Commissioners of Elections informed the Commissioner General of Elections at a conference held Thursday in Election Secretariat in Colombo that the current ground situation in their districts is not conducive to hold any elections.

The Commissioner General, Dayananda Dissanayake, summoned the conference to decide on the question of holding elections to 42 local authorities which were not held on due dates in the year 2005.

Mr.Dissanayake briefed the problems arose due to the failure of holding elections to the local authorities and sought the view of the government agents whether elections could be held for these local authorities.

All government agents told Mr.Dissanayake that the current ground situations in their districts had become worse than during the elections held in the year 2002, and holding elections in the NorthEast districts will not be possible.

The Commissioner General replied that he would inform his decision after consulting Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Janaka Bandara Tennekone, Minister for Local Authorities and Provincial Councils on this issue.