Peaceful election - say EC

The voting for the East Provincial Council election which commenced around 7.00am this morning at 1,070 Polling Stations in the three districts, concluded peacefully at 4.00 pm today.

According to election commission nearly 52 % of the total voters voted in the three districts. In Trincomalee 55 % voted followed by Amparai 52 % and Batticaloa 50%.

Reports arriving from the east, officers in charge of polling booths are making arrangements to take the ballot boxes to the counting centres in the three districts.

Also it was reported that counting centres in the three districts have started counting the postal votes. According to election commission, total number expected postal votes are 22333 and already a 20362 postal votes have been cast.

No major incidents were reported by the three Returning Officers of the three districts except for unconfirmed allegations leveled by two anti-government election monitoring organizations.

Returning Officers of Amparai, Batticaloa and Trincomalee districts reported that polling continues very peacefully without any major incidents in their respective districts
But PAFREL said that in the morning session an average of 40 % of total voters have cast their votes in the three districts.

In the meantime, our sources filing their reports from those districts revealed that in the Batticaloa 35%, Amparai 35% and in the Trincomalee district 55% of the voters have cast their votes by midday.
Our reporters further added that there were no major incidents, but they indicated that a brisk voting is expected in the second session in the three districts after midday.

Election Commissioner Dayanada Silva speaking, said that the first results of the Eastern Provincial Council voting is expected to be anounced by 12.30 midnight and the final results by 6.00 AM on Sunday morning.
Meanwhile Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the separatist Tamil outfit, in a desperate bid to interrupt the polling in the East Provincial Council has fired mortars towards the Village of Namal Oya located in the Amparai district, killing 4 innocent villagers and injuring many.

Our reporter in the east further reported that security forces have discovered two claymore bombs in Valaichaenai.

This morning around 7.00 a.m. Voting began in the 1270 polling stations in three districts, Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Ampaarai, of eastern province. Polling for the East Provincial Council is reported to be progressing calmly, except for a few reported minor incidents.

1342 candidates from 35 political parties and 56 independent groups are in the fray to elect 35 Provincial Council Members. The population of the province is 1,419,602 and 982,721 of them are eligible voters.

In the meantime, TMVP leader and UPFA Chief Ministerial candidate Chanthirakanthan Sivanesathurai, who is popularly known as Pillayan cast his vote at Vipulananda Vidayalam in Peththalai polling division in Valaichchenai.

Speaking outside the polling station, Pillaiyan appealed to the voters not to be intimidated, but to exercise their franchise though LTTE was hell bent to disrupt the polling.

Earlier in the morning around 2.15 a.m., naval vessel A-520, named 'MV Invincible', used for Naval logistic supplies underwent a mysterious explosion, while it remained anchored in the eastern port of Trincomalee.

The vessel which was apprehended while ferrying illicit immigrants was confiscated by the Navy and has been in use. The blast reported to have been triggered with the help of a seaborne explosive device and vessel was reported to sinking after the explosion.

Initial investigations mentioned that Tigers now hell-bent on causing maximum destruction and disrupting today’s (10) Provincial Council Election were behind this blast. However, no loss of lives has been reported. Latest Tiger reports admitted to having carrying out the seaborne attack on the vessel.

It was only on Friday (9) evening Tamil Tigers triggered a blast inside a cafeteria in the Town of Amparai and killed eleven innocent civilians taking refreshments in the place.
Our reporters have filed reports of three incidents of election irregularities in the east provincial council polling, involving UPFA.

The first incident involving Malaka Silva, son of Mervyn Silva was reported from Baharawavana, located Dehiattakandiya in the Amparai district was reported. According to the report it was said that Malaka Silva and his supporters were involved in a free for all fist fight with the a dozen of villagers.

The second incident too was reported from Dehiattakandiya, where Parliamentarian Premlal Jayasekera and his supporters were arrested by the Police for travelling in a car displaying UPFA posters and the numbers of the candidates and the party symbol, which is said to be a violation of the election laws.

In the third incidents, voters in Kuchchaveli in the Trincomalee district had smashed up two vehicles belonging to the staff of Minister Rishard Badurdeen when they attempted to unleash violence near a polling booth. The minister’s team has been led by one Ali Khan.