Displaced Tamil civilians can vote in local elections: SL

For the first time, displaced Tamils and Muslims currently living in relief camps in northern Sri Lanka will be able to vote in the Jaffna and Vavuniya local elections to be held in August.

The civilians displaced due to the 30-year-old civil war will be able to vote in the local elections as earlier they were eligible to vote only in the Presidential and Parliament elections.     "The Government had recently brought an ordinance in Parliament to facilitate the displaced civilians to exercise their franchise," Minister for Social Services Douglas Devananda said here.

Jaffna Muslims, who currently live at the Putalam relief camps after being forced out of the peninsula by the LTTE in 1990, will be the main beneficiaries of the government's move. Elections to the Jaffna Municipal Council and Vavuniya Urban Council are scheduled for August.

On whether the displaced Jaffna and Vavuniya Tamils will be eligible to vote, Devananda said: "There are not many people from the two towns in the camps in Vavuniya and other parts of northern region. The number is less but they will be eligible to vote."