Prior to Northern polls:

Registration of displaced persons begins

by Manjula Fernando

The Elections Department will begin registering displaced voters ahead of the Northern Provincial Council election to ensure that the large numbers who have migrated internally or are overseas due to terrorism will have their franchise rights restored.

The polls are due to be held in September this year and the polls related activities will commence when registration is completed. A spokesperson for the Elections Secretariat told the Sunday Observer yesterday that Sri Lankans living abroad but who hold Sri Lankan citizenship will also be eligible to apply for registration under the Registration of Electors (Special Provisions) Act that was passed in Parliament last week.

‘They should prove that they had been permanent residents of the Northern and the Eastern provinces prior to 2009.

Their registration as voters in the Northern or Eastern province in any of the past elections before 2009 is one such proof.

The Registration of Electors (Special Provisions) Act No.27 of 2013 defines a displaced person as “a citizen of Sri Lanka who was permanently resident in the Northern and Eastern provinces and who was forced or obliged to leave his residence at any time prior to May 2009 as a result of the armed conflict which took place in Sri Lanka and currently resides in Sri Lanka outside his original place of residence in these two provinces.”

Reports attributed to the Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE), said 18,000 voters of displaced families will benefit by the new law. The new Act will be in force for the next two years.