Political parties oppose move to reduce electoral seats in Sri Lanka's Jaffna district

Several opposition political parties in Sri Lanka have objected to the Elections Commissioner's proposal to reduce the number of parliamentary seats allocated to the Jaffna District.


Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya has said the number of seats for Jaffna would be reduced from nine to six due to the decline in the number of registered voters in the area.

The Elections Department announced that the number of seats allocated to the Jaffna District may be reduced due to the decline in the number of voters by 320,000 since 2009.

The major Tamil political party, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has threatened to take legal action if the number of seats were reduced.

TNA parliamentarian Selvam Adeikkalanadan has said the party would have to institute legal action since a justifiable response could not be expected through the discussion with the Election Commissioner.

The main opposition United National Party (UNP) has also asked the Elections Commissioner not to reduce the parliamentary seats allocated to the Jaffna District.

The UNP states that issues faced by the people in the North should be solved by giving political solutions, and not administrative ones.

Meanwhile, Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) Leader V. Anandasangaree has said that Jaffna's electoral seats should remain unchanged until civilian life in the area returned to normal.

In an appeal to the Election Commissioner, Anandasangaree said the decision to "bring the number further down from, nine to six, is totally unacceptable."