North PC polls in early 2011

by P. Krishnaswamy

The Government is looking forward to hold Provincial Council elections in the Northern Province early next year as over 98 percent of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the province have been already resettled in their own villages and the small number remaining will be resettled in the coming weeks, Government spokesperson Minister Keheliya Rambukwella told the Sunday Observer. This process will culminate in the accomplishment of the Government’s long quest to fully restore democracy in the province and activate all local government bodies that were defunct for over three decades under the LTTE’s suppression of the people’s democratic rights.

The PC polls will be held early next year and the Government feels it would reflect the people’s true sentiments as they would be voting in polling stations in the vicinity of their homes without any intimidation or threat from any quarters, whatsoever, unlike in the past, the Minister said.

Deputy Commissioner of Elections P.M. Siriwardene said that the names of those who were displaced during the final stages of the conflict or earlier had not been deleted from the 2009 electoral registers and therefore, all those being resettled in their villages could exercise their franchise.

Assistant Commissioner of Elections (ACE), A.S. Karunanidhi who is in-charge of the special elections office that was set up in Kilinochchi in June this year to coordinate the enumeration process in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu said that the 2010 electoral register will be certified by the Commissioner of Elections only in June 2011 and, as such, any elections before that date will be held on the basis of the 2009 register. Any number of persons whose resettlement may be delayed due to reasons of security could also exercise their franchise, he said.

The names of migrants to other countries and those who originally belonged to these districts but moved to other districts for permanent resettlement will be deleted, the ACE said.