Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Sri Lanka's eastern election challenged in court

Sri Lanka's Eastern Provincial Council election held on May 10 has been challenged in court for the second time in a row, officials said Tuesday.

The Appeal Court last week decided to take up the hearing of a petition filed by the main opposition United National Party, challenging the legality of the election.

The Appeal Court on Tuesday ordered the newly-elected chief minister of the Eastern Province, Sivanesaturai Chandrakanthan and 17 others file answers in court.

The May 10 election in the Eastern Province has been dubbed as seriously flawed by the opposition groups, citing large scale impersonation, intimidation and ballot stuffing.

The election was held after 20 years in the province which the government claimed had been completely cleared of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

The Eastern Province came to be merged with the Northern Province in 1987 as part of an Indian brokered solution to end the armed conflict in the island.

However, the two provinces were separated in 2006 by a Supreme Court order which declared the 1987 merger of the two provinces invalid.

Extracted from,
http://calibre.mworld.com/m/m.w?lp=GetStory&id=310869461

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