Jaffna officials refuse election duties
[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 December 1997, 23:59 GMT]
Election officials at the Jaffna Kachcheri have informed Sri Lanka's commissioner of Elections that they will not be able to undertake any duty in the forthcoming local government elections in the peninsula.
The Chief Returning Officer for Jaffna is the GA. Each electoral district in the island has an Assistant Elections Commissioner who co-ordinates election work whenever there are polls. Mr. S Arunthvachelvan is Jaffna's Assistant Elections Commissioner now. He was not available today for comment. The Jaffna Kachcheri elections officials feel that they should not be associated in anyway with the election as the LTTE is opposed to it. They point out that the LTTE's influence in Jaffna remains quite extensive despite the Sri Lankan army's extensive presence in the peninsula. The government is, however, determined to go ahead with the local government elections in the peninsula said sources in the Jaffna Kachcheri. The government is exploring the possibility of sending election officials from Colombo for handling the local government polls in Jaffna.
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