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| Sunday, 15 February 2004 |
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Politics |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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51 parties eligible to contest General Elections by E. WEERAPPERUMA and DON ASOKA WIJEWARDENA Around 470,970 new registered voters will be eligible to cast their votes in this year's General Election to be held on April 2. The total number of registered voters for the forthcoming election is 12,899,032; the figure was 12,428,062 for the 2001 General Election. A senior official from the Election Department told the Sunday Observer that dispatching of nomination papers to the Assistant Commissioners of Election in 22 electoral districts is being done on the directive of Commissioner of Election, Dayananda Dissanayaka and that the Election Department had made necessary arrangements to receive nominations from different political parties from February 17 until 24. The official said that nearly 51 registered political parties would be contesting the General Election and added that all candidates contesting independently would be required to deposit Rs 2000 in accordance with the Election Act No 1 of 1981. According to Election Commissioner, Dissanayaka, arrangements are being made to appoint Government Agents as returning officers in 22 electoral districts. Sources also revealed that there would be about 11,000 polling stations and 1200 counting centres. The Election Department had decided to appoint around 50,000 counting staff once the casting time ends. When asked about whether the required funds for the election had been released, the official said that in accordance with the Constitution, it was the official responsibility of the President to issue the required funds and noted that around Rs 600 million would be required for this election. The newly formed Eksath Janatha Nidahas Sandanaya is the latest political party to be registered at the Election Department. The LTTE political wing is also eligible to contest as the LTTE is not a proscribed organisation now. However, only a handful of these registered political parties field candidates at elections, Department sources added. The United National Party, Sihala Urumaya, Sri Lanka Muslim Congress and the Ceylon Workers Congress have announced that they will contest the election alone while the Nawa Sama Samaja Party, Lanka Sama Samaja Party and several other small parties have decided to join hands for a common effort. The LTTE has announced that it would support the Tamil National Alliance at the forthcoming General Election. However, the battle will be between the UNP and the Eksath Janatha Nidhahas Sandanaya which comprises the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna. The Communist Party has also said that it would join the Sandanaya to fight the election, despite differences of opinion in respect of the national problem. The decision of the President to call for fresh elections has allowed the provincial councils to continue functioning, except the North Western Provincial Council, which was automatically dissolved on the midnight of February 8, having completed its term of office. Recognised political parties and others intending to contest the General Election are now busy choosing their candidates. Political parties have vowed to give a better place to women and young candidates to take the country forward. Director Police, Election Secretariat, DIG Gamini Nawaratne said that on a directive of IGP Indra de Silva, the Election Secretariat had been preparing a comprehensive pre-election work plan, with special emphasis on preventing election-related violence. DIG Nawaratne also said that as there would be 11,000 polling booths, Police had decided to detail at least two officers at each polling station in addition to officers detailed for special operations and patrolling. According to sources at the Election Department, the Colombo district in the Western Province has the highest number of voters: around 1,467,751. Gampaha district has 1,327,145 and Kalutara district 746,138. The total number of registered voters in the Western Province is 3,541,034. They will elect 47 MPs to represent them in the next Parliament. The revised number of registered voters has resulted in a slight change in the number of MPs being elected to Colombo, Gampaha, Kurunegala and Puttalam districts. While the number of MPs elected to Colombo and Gampaha will be reduced by one each, Kurunegala and Puttalam will have one extra member each in the next Parliament. |
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