TNA scores ninety percent of votes polled in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 April 2004, 07:43 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance got ninety percent of the total votes polled in Jaffna and secured eight of the district’s nine seats, election officials said Saturday. The landslide victory is unprecedented. The total votes polled in the district was 303259, of which 21233 (6.96 percent) were rejected as spoilt. The paramilitary group EPDP managed to get a single seat by polling 18612 votes (6.2 percent). Independent Group No. 1, led by Mr. Veerasingham Anandasangaree was wiped out from the count as it got only 1.82 percent (5156) of the total votes polled in Jaffna.


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TNA wins two parliamentary seats in Trincomalee district

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 April 2004, 01:57 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) obtained two seats in Trincomalee obtaining 69,087 votes, nearly 4,000 votes more than its nearest rival Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC). The counting of preferential votes in the Trincomalee electoral district commenced Saturday morning in the counting centres located in the Trincomalee district secretariat.
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TNA scores high in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 April 2004, 00:30 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) is leading by a massive majority in the Batticaloa district, sources at the elections secretariat in the eastern town said. In the 16 counting centres at the secretariat where votes have been sorted, the TNA has polled 121000 votes. Although voter turnout in Tamil areas of Batticaloa was reported low until early afternoon Friday, it surged later in the day to average at 83.58 percent, the highest polling rate in the northeast in this election.


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TNA said leading in Trincomalee electoral district

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 April 2004, 00:19 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) is reported to be leading by more than two thousand votes in the Trincomalee electoral district in the final count which is in progress Saturday early morning. TNA is now expected to capture two parliamentary seats for the first time under the district proportionate system, Tamil sources said.


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TNA leads by massive majorities in Jaffna electorates

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 April 2004, 23:45 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) is leading all the electorates of the Jaffna District by vast majorities, elections officials in the north said in the early hours of Saturday morning. In the Udupiddy electorate of Jaffna, for which results were made available, the TNA (contesting as Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchi) got 24176 votes. The paramilitary group EPDP polled 874 votes and the Independent Group No. 1 led by Mr. V. Anandasangaree got only 362 votes in the Udupiddy electorate in Jaffna.
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TNA gets 80% Jaffna Postal Votes, comes second in Trinco

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 April 2004, 19:20 GMT]
Of the 3985 total postal votes cast in Jaffna, Tamil National Alliance obtained 3175 votes (80.1%). EPDP obtained 420 votes (10.6%) and Independent (Anandasangaree) group got 340 (8.6%). In Trincomalee, TNA (1892) came second behind UPFA (3269) in postal votes cast. UNP (1698) and SLMC (1441) followed the leaders.
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UPFA takes lead in Postal Votes

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 April 2004, 18:10 GMT]
The United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) took the most number of votes in postal voting in three districts in the South, Election Department announced Friday night. The main constituent parties of the UPFA are the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP). United National Party (UNP) came second and the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) third.
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Jaffna reports high turnout, Erlalai booths close early

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 April 2004, 11:14 GMT]
Civil society sources in Jaffna said that there was high voter turnout in Chunnakam and Mallakam area. However, reports from Erlalai said that the booths at Erlalai Saiva Shanmarga Vidiyalayam were suddenly closed around 3.55pm and the gates were locked preventing further voting. Further details are not known.
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Brisk polling reported in Trincomalee district

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 April 2004, 07:24 GMT]
Brisk polling is reported from the clustered polling stations, which are located in Kattaiparichchan, and Mahindapura for voters residing the LTTE controlled Muttur east villages and Eachilampathu division in the Trincomalee district. Trincomalee District Returning Officer Mr. Gamini Rodrigo Friday noon said about seventy five percent of the uncleared area voters have exercised their franchise, sources said.
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NPC condemns election violence and expulsion of people in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 April 2004, 15:03 GMT]
In a press release Thursday, the National Peace Council has condemned the election-related violence, intimidations and assassinations in the North-East, and the “effort to expel people of Jaffna-origin living in Batticaloa,” saying that “factional rivalries should not be solved at the expense of the people.”
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Omanthai SLA checkpoint gets electricity

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 April 2004, 06:02 GMT]
Transport arrangements for the more than 100,000 voters in the Liberation Tigers controlled areas in the Vanni and Jaffna districts for the elections to be held on Friday are being completed, with a resting place in Puliyankualm and voting booths close to Omanthai and Muhamalai check points of the Sri Lanka Army, officials from the Elections Department said. As part of these arrangements, electricity supply was ceremonially inaugurated to the Omanthai checkpoint complex of the SLA on Wednesday.
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Election violence increases

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 March 2004, 14:56 GMT]
With a day left for the 13th parliamentary election, which is scheduled to be held on April 2nd, post incidents of polls violence reached 1256 Wednesday morning. Of them 983 complaints related to election offences and the balance pertained to Violation of Election Laws, Police Election Secretariat reported.
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Businesses close as Jaffna Tamils leave Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 March 2004, 11:01 GMT]
Businesses belonging to Tamils from Jaffna remain closed in Batticaloa, Chenkalady, Kaluwanchikudi, Pandiriuppu and Kalmunai areas as the owners left the area on the orders of renegade commander Karuna said sources in Batticaloa.
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"Thanthai” Chelva remembered on 106th birthday

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 March 2004, 04:15 GMT]
The 106th birthday of the late Tamil leader and the founder of the Federal Party (Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchchi -ITAK), Mr.S.J.V.Chelvanayakam, falls on Wednesday. Tamils in the country, who still fondly remember Mr. Chelvanayakam as “Thanthai (father) Chelva,” will celebrate the late leader's birthday Wednesday at a time when the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) is contesting the forthcoming general elections on the ITAK ticket, with its HOUSE symbol revived after 37 years, political sources said.
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“Depriving franchise would pose serious problems”- Cushnahan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 March 2004, 15:10 GMT]
“The Elections Commissioner has agreed that voters in LTTE held areas in the northeast would be given an opportunity to exercise their franchise. However, preventing them from voting on the polling day would pose serious problems,” said the European Union Election Observation Commission (EU EOM) Chief Observer, Mr.John Cushnahan, addressing a press briefing in the Batticaloa district secretariat Tuesday.
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Batticaloa district security strengthened

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 March 2004, 14:53 GMT]
The security of the Batticaloa district, which has witnessed four political murders since the filing of nominations for the forthcoming general election, has been strengthened following the killings of two persons including the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) candidate Mr.Rajan Sathyamoorthy Tuesday.
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Tigers condemn TNA candidate’s killing

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 March 2004, 07:27 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers Tuesday said they strongly condemn the killing of Mr. Rajan Sathiyamoorthy, Tamil National Alliance candidate for Batticaloa. “The people of Batticaloa should not to be perturbed by such incidents of violence in the district that create fear. We call on them to vote for the TNA and show the world the national strength of the Tamil people”, the LTTE said in statement issued in Tamil from their political headquarters in Kilinochchi Tuesday. Mr. Sathiyamoorthy was shot dead by unidentified gunmen at his residence Tuesday morning.


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Thennamaravadi residents to vote after 17 years

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 March 2004, 03:10 GMT]
Nearly six hundred displaced voters of Thennamaravadi, a traditional Tamil village on the northern border of the Trincomalee district located about 73 km from the east port town wiil be voting for the first time after they fled from the village in 1987 due to military operation by the Sri Lanka Army, civil sources said.


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Pro-Karuna TNA candidate shot

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 March 2004, 02:40 GMT]
Batticaloa Tamil National Alliance candidate, Mr. Rajan Sathiyamoorthy, a close confidante of renegade LTTE commander Mr. V. Muraleetharan, was shot by unidentified gunmen at his residence in the eastern town Tuesday morning. The injured candidate was rushed to Batticaloa hospital, Police said. The Hospital director said that Mr.Sathiyamoorthy succumbed to his wounds after he was admitted to the hospital.
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Major political parties to hold final election rallies Tuesday

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 March 2004, 21:28 GMT]
The final election rallies of major political parties are to be held Tuesday evening in various parts of the country bringing the one and a half months old bitter election campaign to an end two days before the April 2nd poll, political sources said.
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