23.8.2008
Rajmi Manatunga
One
thousand six hundred and ninety eight candidates from
45 political parties and 34 independent groups will vie
for 75 provincial council seats, as voting for the North
Central and Sabaragamuwa PC Elections get under way from
7 a.m. today.
A
total of 2,165,280 voters, 846,454 voters from North Central
and 1,3,18,826 from Sabaragamuwa, will cast their votes
at the twin mini polls, to be conducted at 758 and 1,014
polling stations in NCP and Sabaragamuwa respectively.
Elections
authorities said over 15,000 of their personnel will be
on duty in the two provinces today, supported by 21,000
police and personnel deployed to maintain law and order
during the day.
Over
100 hundred Senior Election Officers from areas other
than North Central and Sabaragamuwa provinces have been
entrusted with the task of manning the polling booths.
Around 1,000 vehicles will also be used for their election
duties. See graphic on Page 4
For
the first time, the production of the National Identity
card, an alternative identity document approved by the
Elections Department or the temporary identity card issued
by the Grama Niladhari has been made mandatory for voting
at the two PC polls.
The
Elections Commissioner has decided to implement a host
of measures to ensure a free and fair election today.
The
Senior Presiding Officer who is the sole authority at
a polling station will be responsible for maintaining
order at the respective station.
Only
the persons authorised under Law will be permitted to
enter a polling station. They are Secretary of a contesting
political party, candidates (one from each party or independent
group at a time), polling agents (two from each part or
independent group), police officers on duty, registered
voters and domestic observers approved by the Elections
Commissioner (one from each organisation).
Personal
guards, fire arms or cellular phones will not be permitted
into the polling stations, while a security zone will
be declared within a radius of half a kilometre of every
station.
Canvassing
for votes, soliciting votes, persuading electors note
to vote for a political party or independent group and
distributing or exhibiting hand bills, placards posters,
drawings, symbols, etc will be prohibited within the zone.
Campaigning
for the two provincial council elections ended midnight
Wednesday with the three main contenders, the UPFA, UNP
and JVP, claiming victory at their final rallies.
Campaigning
over electronic media and print media concluded on Thursday
and Friday respectively.
The
final UPFA rally was held in Embilipitiya under the patronage
of President Mahinda Rajapaksa while the UNP held their
two final rallies in Kegalle and Ratnapura presided by
Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe.
The
JVP’s final meeting was in Kegalle under the patronage
of party leader Somawansa Amarasinghe. Two election monitoring
groups, PAFFREL and CMEV, will be permitted within polling
stations during the election day while CAFFE and the Diriya
foundation will be permitted to continue to monitor the
polls without entering polling centres.
According
to PAFFREL, 3,000 of their monitors will be deployed in
the two provinces on the election day.
Courtesy
- Daily News