Ruling party Matara Mayor extends support to Fonseka

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 January 2010, 08:03 GMT]
Mayor of Matara Municipal Council, Upul Nishantha, Saturday crossed over from the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and extended support to General (retd) Fonseka. Mr. Upul Nishantha is the Matara district organizer of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the main constituent of the UPFA.

Upul Nishantha announced his decision of extending support to Fonseka at a media briefing held Saturday morning in Colombo. His crossing over would rally more support for General Fonseka in the Matara district, he added.

Meanwhile, number of election related violence and other irregularities reached 350 mark ending at 6:00 am Saturday, according to election monitoring groups.

The Centre for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFe) has recorded 369 incidents since nominations were handed over.

The incidents reported so far include 71 cases of attacks on property, assaults of individuals 61, violation of elections laws 84, and misuse of state property 72, CaFFe spokesperson Keerthi Tennakoon said.