SLA take-over of buses disrupt IDPs transport to booths in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 January 2010, 10:38 GMT]
Voter turnout remained low in Ki'linochchi until 2:00 p.m. Only 27 persons had voted at a voting booth where 949 eligible voters were registered. Meanwhile, buses that were scheduled to transport the internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Vavuniyaa camps to voting booths were taken by the Sri Lankan military, disrupting the transport of the voters. Following complaints to Election Commissioner, more than 5,000 IDP voters have been transported in buses that were brought from Jaffna, election officials in Vavuniyaa said.

A special instruction was provided by the Election Commissioner, allowing IDPs without Sri Lankan identity cards to vote with their temporary identity cards.

The voting was relatively higher in Ki'linochchi in the afternoon despite the poor turnout in Pa'lai.

Sri Lankan Police officials in Jaffna launched inspection of the bomb explosion sites in Jaffna following the instruction from the Election Commissioner.