Monday, 23 September 2013 01:21
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Northern voters deliver crushing defeat to UPFA in all electoral districts
International intervention to achieve devolution a last resort: Wigneswaran
Respect the democratic verdict: Sampanthan tells Colombo
By Dharisha Bastians in Jaffna
Northern Province Chief Minister Elect C.V. Wigneswaran who clinched victory in Saturday’s provincial election with a huge number of preferential votes called on the Government yesterday to grant the newly-elected council all its legitimate powers and ruled out international intervention to win devolution for the Tamils except as a last resort.
Once sworn in to office, the former Supreme Court Judge will become Sri Lanka’s first Northern Chief Minister.
Wigneswaran was the Chief Ministerial Nominee of the Tamil National Alliance which won a five-sixths majority in the 38-seat Northern Provincial Council that was elected at Saturday’s historic poll.
“It is important for the Provincial Council to dialogue and work with the Sri Lankan Government,” Justice Wigneswaran told reporters in the northern capital of Jaffna last afternoon fresh from his party’s massive win at the election.
He called on the Government to respect the northern people’s verdict by granting the powers legitimately accrued to the new council. “It is up to the Government to decide if it will respect the people’s decision,” Wigneswaran said.
International intervention, he said, would be sought only when talks with the Government fail repeatedly.
TNA Leader Rajavarothiam Sampanthan called the results of Saturday’s northern election “unprecedented” in the country’s history.
“The people of the north have made known their views clearly and courageously, respect their democratic verdict,” Sampanthan said issuing a strong message to the Government in Colombo from the northern capital of Jaffna.
He told reporters that the Tamils had expressed a desire to live securely with dignity and adequate self-rule within the framework of a united country. “The TNA expects the Government to extend the fullest cooperation for the achievement of those legitimate aspirations.
Wigneswaran polled a whopping 132,255 votes in the Jaffna District, with the wife of former LTTE Political Wing Leader for Trincomalee Ananthi Sasitharan coming in second for the TNA at 87,870 votes. PLOTE Leader Dharmalingam Siddharthan polled the third highest votes in the Jaffna District. The UPFA’s leading SLFP candidate in Saturday’s election Angajan Ramanathan won a seat in the council contesting in the Jaffna District.
The TNA led the polls by a landslide in the Northern Province, winning 78.48% of the total votes cast, according to the Department of Elections. The UPFA polled 18.38% of votes cast in the province, registering major losses in every single electoral district in the north including in the EPDP stronghold of Kayts. The UPFA has won seven seats on the Northern Provincial Council, with the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress also managing one seat.
