The UNP has decided not to name chief ministerial candidates for the Sabaragamuwa and North-Central Provinces.

The party has named its national organiser Daya Gamage as the chief ministerial candidate for the Eastern Province and seven candidates had been appointed group leaders for the September 08 polls, Party’s Chairman, parliamentarian Gamini Jayawickrema Perera said.
TheUNP’s campaign for the three provinces consists of several phases. The last phase of several rallies, spearheaded by party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, would be conducted during the last few days of the campaign, he said.

Perera said that his party had requested the Elections Commissioner to take actions to prevent the ruling party making use of State resources for election campaigns, but such abuse continued. "The UNP has made this request several times verbally and in writing to the Elections Commissioner, but the abuse of State resources by the UPFA in the provinces continues unabated," he said.

CaFFE received 10 complaints on the final day of nomination (19th of July 2012) regarding election law violation. CaFFE has informed the incidents to the Election Commissioner to take necessary steps to protect the law and order of the society. Most of the incidents have been reported from the Pollonaruwa, Ampara, Trincomalee and Ratnapura Districts.

The UNP has decided to contest all districts at the forthcoming Eastern, North Central and Sabragamuwa provincial council elections.

Gayantha Karunathilaka MP, told journalists in Colombo yesterday that in keeping with the wishes of the party rank and file, the Working Committee (WC) had decided to put forward candidates for each and every district in the three provinces.

Asked to comment on various chief ministerial nominees being mentioned, he said that they would be announced after nominations were handed over to the Elections Secretariat.

The Nominations Board will meet continuously commencing this week, to finalise the list of candidates which would have to be submitted for endorsement to the WC, scheduled to meet on July 19, Karunathilaka said.

The MP said that the deteriorating economic conditions, rising crime wave, including rape and robberies and corruption at the highest levels, had resulted in village folk wanting to teach the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime a good lesson.

With the grassroots level membership rallying round the leadership, it would be a matter of time before the government was defeated, he said.

The opposition United National Party yesterday dared the government to hold the forthcoming polls to the three Provincial Councils – North Central, Sabaragamuwa and Eastern Provincial Councils on the same day, claiming that if it did, it would lose.

The government was scared of holding elections on the same day to all the Provincial Councils as it was now aware that it would be routed and that was why it was holding them on a staggered basis causing tremendous difficulties to the voters and the public, UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake told The Island yesterday.

However, government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella told The Island on the day the councils were dissolved, that the government had every right to do it.

Elections Commissioner met with the representatives of political parties today to discuss the elections for the Puthukudiyiruppu and Maritimepattu Pradeshiya Sabhas in the Mullativu District.

The elections for the two local bodies were postponed due to the resettlement programme and the de-mining programme that were continuing in the area. Elections have already been held for the rest of the local government bodies in the Northern Province.

Asked why political parties, particularly the UNP, couldn’t ensure a fair share of nominations to youth and women, the UNPer said that political parties would never address such issues without parliamentary intervention.

Parliamentarian Premadasa alleged that the proposed Local Government Election Amendment Bill had recommended the reduction of the youth representation to 12.5 per cent from the present 40 per cent. Responding to a query by The Island, Premadsa said according to the proposed Bill, those in the age group of 18 to 35 would receive 12.5 per cent of total nominations, while the women would receive a 12.5 per cent share.

Premadasa said that each category should be given a 25 per cent share in nominations. Nothing could be as bad as reducing the youth representation at a time the country needed young blood to take the lead. Asked whether he would raise this issue in parliament, Premadasa said that he intended to move an amendment to the Local Government Election Amendment Bill seeking 25 per cent share of nominations to those in the age group of 18 to 35 and the women.

UNP Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa yesterday criticized a move to reduce the representation of the youth in local government bodies.