people allowed to vote though
By Rathindra Kuruwita
Around 4500 polling cards were taken from voters in Kilinochchi District on Friday night and Saturday morning just prior to local government polls in certain areas, and residents said that this was carried out by some armed men. The areas most affected are Mayawanur, Ramanathan Puram, Purimandanaru, Selva Puram, Mundupirappu, Barathi Puram and Malayala Puram.
Many houses in these areas were visited within a few hours to the election and people were offered bribes to hand over their polling cards; on some occasions violence was used when people refused to hand over the cards. Sums ranging from Rs 300 - 1000 were offered in exchange for cards and houses were chosen based on their incomes, while violence was used on known opposition party supporters. Residents claim that the pre dawn visitors spoke Tamil and carried weapons.
Also in Kilinochchi a tuition establishment owned by a Tamil National Alliance supporter near Palai Central College was burned down. Meanwhile in Jaffna the leader of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) group of Valikamam East was assaulted on his way to the polling centre and many tense situations arose in all areas which are dominated by the EPDP.
However despite this there was high voter turnout in all three districts in the Northern election officials claim. Voter turnout in Jaffna was at 46%, while it was at 65% in both Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu.
“Although close to 5000 polling cards had been taken the Elections Secretariat in Kilinochchi Kachcheri responded immediately by informing people that they could still vote using their identity documents,” said Keerthi Tennakoon, Executive Director, Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE.)
In other areas one UPFA supporter was killed in intra-party clashes in Anuradhapura.
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Hundreds of Polling Cards Forcibly Collected in Killinochchi
One Killed in Anuradhapura, UNP Mayoral Candidate Assaulted in Nuwera Eliya, Illegal Propaganda Continues
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| REUTERS PICTURES A Tamil woman shows her ink-marked finger after she cast her vote during a local government election in Jaffna about 304 km (184 miles) north of Colombo, July 23, 2011. Sri Lanka's northern cities hold local polls for the first time in many years on Saturday and though the civil war is over, fear and intimidation remain rife, according to poll monitors and opposition politicians. |
by Keerthi Tennakoon
(July 23, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Hours before commencement of polling on Election Day, a shooting incident took place in Paniyang Kadawala, Saliyapura in the Anuradhapura District, leaving one person dead. He was a strong UPFA supporter and this death is reportedly a result of an internal clash between UPFA party members in the area. Read More
