UPFA heading for victory

by Wijitha NAKKAWITA, Ananth PALAKIDNAR and Jayampathy JAYASINGHE

Early results of postal voting showed the UPFA heading for victory in the Provincial Council Elections held yesterday to elect 106 members to the Central and North Western Provincial Councils.

Voter turnout was over 60 per cent in both provinces according to Returning Officers.

It was the most peaceful poll held in recent times and no incidents of violence were reported from the five districts Kandy, Matale, Nuwara Eliya, Kurunegala and Puttalam though held with a high percentage of voter turnout averaging over 60 percent when the poll closed at 4.00 p.m., district secretaries conducting the poll said.Police in the districts and District Secretaries of the two provinces said no incidents of serious nature were reported but only minor cases of violation of election laws were recorded.

A very severe cold weather prevailed in the upcountry especially in the Nuwara Eliya district but voters even those in the plantation areas braved the inclement weather to join the queues at their respective polling stations in the district police and officials said.

Reports from the districts indicated that there was much enthusiasm among the voters even in rural areas and the poll showed. The UPFA supporters came in to vote at the polling stations from 7.00 a.m. in greater numbers from the start of the poll that was quiet and peaceful in most areas.

Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police, Gamini Navaratne is coordinating security of the two provinces during the elections told the Sunday Observer that the elections were the most peaceful and no incidents of violence had been reported from the districts. He said additional police personnel called in have been given instructions to prevent any post poll incidents of violence.

He said police coordinating units had been set up in all the provincial towns on the request of the Commissioner of Elections, Dayananda Dissnayake and mobile police patrols were also added to the security cover during and after the date of elections to ensure a peaceful poll and prevent post-election violence if any.

Senior government sources said the Central and North Western provincial elections would be peaceful and all SLFP and other UPFA provincial party officials had been given strict instructions to ensure peaceful elections in their respective areas. The prevailing peaceful atmosphere in all the districts where a peaceful poll was conducted was an indication that the grass roots level party activists and the voters had heeded the calls made by senior party officials to maintain peace.