UPFA to contest 308 LG bodies

by L.S. Ananda WEDAARACHCHI

Nominations for the 308 Local Government (LG) bodies will be submitted by the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA), said UPFA General Secretary and Petroleum Industries Minister Susil Premajayantha.

He said that over 10,000 applications for nominations had been already received and there would be more applications since thousands of party members had indicated their willingness to contest the elections, he said.

He said that interviews to select suitable candidates will commence from January 10.

A national organising committee under the chairmanship of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, consisting of Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne, Ministers Maithripala Sirisena, Dullas Alahapperuma, Basil Rajapaksa, Susil Premajayantha and Nimal Siripala De Silva has been appointed by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) to organise the Local Government election campaign. Twenty-five committees have also been appointed to mobilise support for the SLFP.

A spokesman for the UNP said that discussions were under way to form an alliance with other opposition parties to contest the election. The JVP has already decided to contest the elections alone while the DNA will not contest the election. The government dissolved 308 of the 330 local bodies on Thursday. The Elections Department said on Friday that nominations would be accepted from January 20-27 for the local bodies that were dissolved.