Three Provincial Councils dissolved

Gazette Notification signed by the respective Governors effecting the dissolution of the Eastern, Sabaragamuwa and North Central Provincial Councils at the request of the relevant Chief Ministers were issued yesterday and accordingly the three Provincial Councils have been dissolved with effect from midnight yesterday.

The United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) gained a landslide victory at the last election in the Sabaragamuwa, North Central and Eastern provinces in 2008.

The UPFA secured 20 seats in the NCP, 25 seats in the Sabaragamuwa and 20 seats in the Eastern Province as against the main Opposition, UNP which secured 12, 17 and 20 seats respectively. The Chief Ministers of North Central and Sabaragamuwa Provincial Councils Berty Premalal Dissanayake and Maheepala Herath respectively have expressed their confidence of victory in the forthcoming elections.

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister of the Eastern Province  Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan has said that his party TMVP will contest the forthcoming Eastern Provincial Council election under the UPFA banner and its victory is a foregone conclusion.

The Commissioner of Elections Mahinda Deshapriya has called all Additional Election Secretaries for a meeting today to discuss pre-operational activities. The date of the elections has not been fixed yet but government sources said that the elections are likely to be held in the first week of September, probably on September 7th. (niz)

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