Sri Lanka Opposition Leader calls on government to hold elections in the North

Sri Lanka Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremasinghe today called on the government to hold election in the North before holding election for provincial councils in the South. Wickremasinghe addressing a media conference organized by the joint opposition said
the President must take measures to hold provincial council elections in the North as promised since the war is over three years ago. He questioned why the government was delaying holding the Northern Provincial Council election after holding the Presidential and general elections. He noted that the people had the right to elect members for the provincial council and the government was depriving the people in the North of this right. According to Wickremasinghe, the government therefore was not different from the LTTE that also deprived the rights of the people. He pointed out that no election had been held in the north since 1988. He added that the people in the North are demanding for an election and they are being deprived of it. Wickremasinghe charged that the government has dissolved the North Central, Sabaragamuwa and Eastern Provincial Councils and have called for elections to divert the attention of the people from key issues faced by the country. He added that the government will be able to convince the international community of Sri Lanka's prevailing positive situation by holding elections within all nine provinces simultaneously.