The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) contesting under Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) banner, won control of Trincomalee Urban Council and 6 other Northeastern Pradeshiya Sabhas in last week’s local government elections.
Despite the polls being postponed in most areas of the North East due to security concerns, in all the party won 35 of the 118 seats in 13 local authorities, including 2 urban councils and eleven Pradeshiya Sabhas, in the areas it contested.
The ITAK won 10 seats in Trincomalee Urban Council, 6 seats in the Trincomalee Town and Gravets Pradeshiya Sabha and was elected uncontested in the Verugal Pradeshiya Sabha. The party also won all the 9 seats in Thirukkovil and Alaiadivembu Pradeshiya Sabahs and won Karaithivu with 4 seats in Amparai district
In Trincomalee where local council polls were conducted after 12 years, the voter turn-out was high mainly in Muslim and Tamil majority areas. Assistant Elections Commissioner M.M.S.K. Bandara Mapa said people were not so enthusiastic in the Sinhala majority areas of Kantale, Gomarankadawala and Padavi-Sripura.
Mr. Mapa said two polling booths were set up at Kattaparichchan and Toppur for people from the LTTE-controlled areas to vote. A bus service was also in operation to transport voters in and out of the uncleared areas. The LTTE too operated a bus service to facilitate people to cast their vote.
“Tamils and Muslims are voting enthusiastically probably because they want to elect the parties representing their ethnic identities,” he told the Daily Mirror. In these areas, the turn-out was more than 50 percent.
All those elected to the Trincomalee Urban Council were Tamils and Muslims. The newly elected council consists of 9 Tamils and 3 Muslims.
The ITAK fielded fourteen Tamils and two Muslims for council, and of them, 9 Tamils and a Muslim were elected on preferential votes. The remaining 2 councillors were from an independent group consisted of five members from the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA), four from the United National Party (UNP), 2 from the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and five from the North East Sinhala Organization (NESO) and two of its Muslim members qualified to council seats.
The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and Eelam Peoples’ Democratic Party (EPDP), who had also competed for the council, were disqualified for the counting of seats when both parties failed to secure 20 percent of the total number of votes polled.
“The electoral victories of Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi in the districts of Trincomalee and Amparai has inflicted a stunning defeat of the paramilitaries allied with Government of Sri Lanka,” TNA parliamentarian Mr. M Sivajilingam was quoted by TamilNet as saying.
Suresh Premachandran, TNA parliamentarian, said, “Tamil speaking people in the East are fully supporting the Tamil National struggle. By give ITAK huge electoral success, Tamil people in the East has rejected outright Colombo’s efforts to portray paramilitaries as a viable democratic force in the East.”
Prior to the polls on March 30, ITAK had made a concerted effort to campaign in Trincomalee, seeing a victory for Tamil speaking people in the district as essential to preventing the demerger of the NorthEast.
“Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchchi must capture the administration of the Trincomalee Urban Council in the local poll to scuttle the campaign by chauvinist elements for a de-merger of the NorthEast province. Tamil speaking people in Trincomalee district must unequivocally demonstrate that they will not allow any moves of de-merger to materialize,” said Mr. K. Thurairatnasingham, Trincomalee district TNA parliamentarian, told a rally on the Sunday before the polls.
“We should be prepared to take the challenge to capture more local authorities, especially the Trincomalee Urban Council which is the main target of the chauvinist elements. Every Tamil speaking person in Trincomalee should get out on the polling day to cast his or her vote for the ITAK symbol, HOUSE,” Mr. Thurairatnasingham said.
Meanwhile, EPDP leader Douglas Devananda, whose paramilitary cadres operate with the Sri Lanka Army in the NorthEast, expressed dissatisfaction over the Elections Department’s decision to postpone elections in the North and East. Addressing a press conference Mr. Devananda said that it is unfortunate that the Election Department had to postpone the local government election except in Ampara and Trincomalee as it had prevented them from winning the Pudukudiyiruppu Pradeshiya Sabha in the North – the ITAK list for Pudukudiyiruppu had been declared invalid.
In the NorthEast, the Sri Lankan Commissioner of Elections has postponed elections to 45 local government authorities in the 6 districts of Jaffna, Mullaithivu, Killinochchi, Mannar, Vavuniya and Batticaloa till September 30.
Despite the polls being postponed in most areas of the North East due to security concerns, in all the party won 35 of the 118 seats in 13 local authorities, including 2 urban councils and eleven Pradeshiya Sabhas, in the areas it contested.
The ITAK won 10 seats in Trincomalee Urban Council, 6 seats in the Trincomalee Town and Gravets Pradeshiya Sabha and was elected uncontested in the Verugal Pradeshiya Sabha. The party also won all the 9 seats in Thirukkovil and Alaiadivembu Pradeshiya Sabahs and won Karaithivu with 4 seats in Amparai district
In Trincomalee where local council polls were conducted after 12 years, the voter turn-out was high mainly in Muslim and Tamil majority areas. Assistant Elections Commissioner M.M.S.K. Bandara Mapa said people were not so enthusiastic in the Sinhala majority areas of Kantale, Gomarankadawala and Padavi-Sripura.
Mr. Mapa said two polling booths were set up at Kattaparichchan and Toppur for people from the LTTE-controlled areas to vote. A bus service was also in operation to transport voters in and out of the uncleared areas. The LTTE too operated a bus service to facilitate people to cast their vote.
“Tamils and Muslims are voting enthusiastically probably because they want to elect the parties representing their ethnic identities,” he told the Daily Mirror. In these areas, the turn-out was more than 50 percent.
All those elected to the Trincomalee Urban Council were Tamils and Muslims. The newly elected council consists of 9 Tamils and 3 Muslims.
The ITAK fielded fourteen Tamils and two Muslims for council, and of them, 9 Tamils and a Muslim were elected on preferential votes. The remaining 2 councillors were from an independent group consisted of five members from the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA), four from the United National Party (UNP), 2 from the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and five from the North East Sinhala Organization (NESO) and two of its Muslim members qualified to council seats.
The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and Eelam Peoples’ Democratic Party (EPDP), who had also competed for the council, were disqualified for the counting of seats when both parties failed to secure 20 percent of the total number of votes polled.
“The electoral victories of Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi in the districts of Trincomalee and Amparai has inflicted a stunning defeat of the paramilitaries allied with Government of Sri Lanka,” TNA parliamentarian Mr. M Sivajilingam was quoted by TamilNet as saying.
Suresh Premachandran, TNA parliamentarian, said, “Tamil speaking people in the East are fully supporting the Tamil National struggle. By give ITAK huge electoral success, Tamil people in the East has rejected outright Colombo’s efforts to portray paramilitaries as a viable democratic force in the East.”
Prior to the polls on March 30, ITAK had made a concerted effort to campaign in Trincomalee, seeing a victory for Tamil speaking people in the district as essential to preventing the demerger of the NorthEast.
“Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchchi must capture the administration of the Trincomalee Urban Council in the local poll to scuttle the campaign by chauvinist elements for a de-merger of the NorthEast province. Tamil speaking people in Trincomalee district must unequivocally demonstrate that they will not allow any moves of de-merger to materialize,” said Mr. K. Thurairatnasingham, Trincomalee district TNA parliamentarian, told a rally on the Sunday before the polls.
“We should be prepared to take the challenge to capture more local authorities, especially the Trincomalee Urban Council which is the main target of the chauvinist elements. Every Tamil speaking person in Trincomalee should get out on the polling day to cast his or her vote for the ITAK symbol, HOUSE,” Mr. Thurairatnasingham said.
Meanwhile, EPDP leader Douglas Devananda, whose paramilitary cadres operate with the Sri Lanka Army in the NorthEast, expressed dissatisfaction over the Elections Department’s decision to postpone elections in the North and East. Addressing a press conference Mr. Devananda said that it is unfortunate that the Election Department had to postpone the local government election except in Ampara and Trincomalee as it had prevented them from winning the Pudukudiyiruppu Pradeshiya Sabha in the North – the ITAK list for Pudukudiyiruppu had been declared invalid.
In the NorthEast, the Sri Lankan Commissioner of Elections has postponed elections to 45 local government authorities in the 6 districts of Jaffna, Mullaithivu, Killinochchi, Mannar, Vavuniya and Batticaloa till September 30.
