Issues of concern addressed and ignored
 

For Northern voters:

Land and housing, pressing issues

by P. Krishnaswamy

The five pre-dominant minority constituencies of the North and the East will play a crucial role in tomorrow's polls in deciding which party will form the new government as they did at the January 8 presidential polls.

The number of contending political parties and independent groups in the five electoral districts of the two provinces have almost doubled, compared to the last General Elections held on April 8, 2010, showing a growing interest among political activists to return to the democratic mainstream in the peace and democracy restored regions.

The four-party Tamil National Alliance (TNA) that is contesting on the 'house' symbol of one of its constituents, the Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), the Muslim parties contesting in alliance with the UNF on its 'elephant' symbol in most of the constituencies and other minority parties that are contesting in alliance with the UPFA on its 'betel' symbol are expected to be the important players.

However, there are other Tamil parties , including the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC), the All Ceylon Tamil Maha Sabai (ACTMS) and the Eelavar Democratic Front (EDF) as also the Independent Group of the Crusaders for Democracy (CFD) that may draw votes with their new and different slogans. The JVP, with its new approach towards the Tamils' problems, is also likely to draw considerable votes.

Fifteen political parties and six independent groups are contesting in the multi-member Jaffna constituency, combined of the administrative districts of Jaffna and Kilinoichchi.The district currently elects seven of the 225 members of the eighth parliament and the registered number of electors is 529,239.

The All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC), All Ceylon Tamil Maha Saba (ACTMS), the Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katrchi (ITAK - on behalf of the TNA), Eelavar Democratic Front (EDF), Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) , the UPFA, UNP, United Sociealist Party (USP) JVP , Jana Setha Peramuna (JSP), the TULF), Sihala Urumaya (SU), Frontliner Socialist Party ()FSP), Sri Lanka Mahajana Party (SLMP) and Socialist Equality Party are the fifteen political parties in the fray. In the April 8, 2010 Parliamentary Elections , the TNA (ITAK) secured 43.85 percent of the votes, the UPFA secured 32.07 percent , the Tamil National People's Party (ACTC ) secured 4.27 percent while all other parties secured less than two percent.

The demographic percentage is Seri Lankan Tamils 98.95 percent, Sinhalese 0.58 percent, Sri Lankan Moors 0.37 percent and Indian Tamils is 0.09 percent.

The Vanni electoral district combined of the administrative districts of Mannar, Mullaitivu and Vavuniya has 253,058 electors and the constituency elects 6 members to the parliament. 19 political parties and 10 Independent Groups are contesting the Vanni constituency. The political parties are the ACTC, ACTMS, ITAK (TNA), EDF, EPDP, UPFA, UNP, JVP, JSP, TULF, FSP, SLMP, SEP, Democratic Unity Alliance (DUA), United People's Party (UPP), United Peace Front (UPF) , Puravesi Peramuna (PP), Moubima Janatha Paksaya (MJP) and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) .

The number of electors in the constituency is 253,058 and as per results of the April 4, 2010 General Elections, the TNA( ITAK) secured 38.96 of the votes, the UPFA 35.07 percent and the UNF 11.91 percent. Other parties secured less than 2 percent.

The Trincomalee electoral district in the Eastern Province has a population of 378,182 and the number of electors is 246,890 who elect four members to the Parliament. 15 political parties and six independent groups are contesting the polls and the political parties are the ACTC, ACTMS,ITAK (TNA), EPDP,UPFA,UNP,UPP,UPF,PLF,JSP, TULF, NSU, FSP, DP and the SLNF . The demographic percentage is 40.42 Sri Lankan Moors, 36.55 percent Sri Lankan Tamils and 26.97 percentage Sinhalese.

District Secretaries of the districts told the Sunday Observer of the prevailing issues relating to land ownership, resettlement, housing , economic prosperity, livelihood of rehabilitated ex-combatants and compensations, the most pressing issues are land ownership and housing for the the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).

They also said that no major programs have been started in the recent past for the socio-economic welfare of the people and to provide employment opportunities and it is imperative to focus on these aspects.