Attempts to avert major showdown between JVP-SLFP

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 April 2004, 07:33 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge has appointed a five-member committee with the Prime Minister Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse at the helm in a bid to resolve the crisis within the recently formed United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government following differences between the major constituents, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), political sources said.
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JVP on warpath with SLFP over ministerial portfolios

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 April 2004, 13:39 GMT]
The General Secretary of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), Mr.Tilvin Silva has written to Sri Lanka's President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunge, to summon the executive committee of the the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA), of which the JVP is a major constituent, immediately to sort out all problems that have arisen over the appointment of Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse as Prime Minister and the nonallocation of "vital subjects" for ministries offered to JVP parliamentarians, political sources said.
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JVP boycotts UPFA cabinet swearing in ceremony

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 April 2004, 13:41 GMT]
The first cabinet of the United Peoples’ Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government was sworn in Saturday evening in the President’s House with no live coverage by the State electronic media. The leaders and ministers designate of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), major constituent of the UPFA, boycotted the event due to differences of opinion over the allocation of subjects to ministries designated for them, informed political sources in Colombo said.


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Northern Muslims for Norwegian facilitation

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 April 2004, 17:27 GMT]
The United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA), which was voted to power at the general elections on April 2, should continue the peace process with the facilitation of the Norwegian government, said the Forum for Northern Muslim Rights (FNMR) in a statement released Friday.
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32 member UPFA Cabinet to be sworn in on Saturday

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 April 2004, 17:41 GMT]
A thirty-two member cabinet of the United People's Freedom Alliance is likely to be sworn in Saturday, sources in Colombo said. A conference of leaders of constituent parties of the UPFA was held Thursday with President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge in the chair and the allocation of ministries has been finalized, government sources said Thursday.
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‘TNA should speak up for upcountry Tamils’ – UPF

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 April 2004, 19:49 GMT]
The leader of the Upcountry People’s Front (UPF), Mr. Periyannan Chandrasekaran, speaking to the Press after he met with the political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan, on Tuesday, said that on behalf of the UPF, he would request the 22 Tamil National Alliance MPs to speak up about the problems of the Upcountry Tamil people, and that he would come to an understanding with the TNA in Sri Lanka's parliament without supporting any Southern parties, sources said.
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Sri Lanka's 14th Prime Minister Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 April 2004, 05:20 GMT]
Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse Tuesday morning was sworn in as the Sri Lanka's fourteenth Prime Minister. President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge administered the oath of secrecy to the new Prime Minister at an event held in the Presidential Secretariat, Presidential secretariat sources said.
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UPFA said divided over selection of new Prime Minister

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 April 2004, 16:08 GMT]
Sri Lanka President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge Monday put off the naming of a new Prime Minister of the thirteenth parliament for Tuesday due to the differences of opinion prevailing among the leaders of constituent parties of the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA). The meeting of the UPFA leaders held Monday concluded without coming to a unanimous decision on the Prime Minister nominee, political sources said. Wire reports said later, however, that Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse, the opposition leader in the previous parliament, had been chosen as the new PM.
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Sri Lanka’s new PM, Cabinet to be appointed Monday

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 April 2004, 17:44 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s new Prime Minister of the thirteenth parliament is to be sworn in on Monday. The new cabinet of ministers is also expected to take oaths on the same day. Sri Lanka's President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge is expected to invite the leader of the political party that has got highest number of seats in the Friday poll, the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA), to form the government, Presidential secretariat sources said.


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Trinco GA, Police commended for violence free elections

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 April 2004, 02:35 GMT]
The Trincomalee District Returning Officer Mr. Gamini Rodrigo Saturday evening declared at the Trincomalee district secretariat that Messrs R.Sampanthan and K.Thurairetnasingham of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), Najeeb Mohamed Abdul Majeed of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and N.W.M.Jayantha Wijesekara of the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) have been elected parliamentarians for the Trincomalee Electoral District No: 14.
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UPFA takes lead in Postal Votes

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 April 2004, 18:10 GMT]
The United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) took the most number of votes in postal voting in three districts in the South, Election Department announced Friday night. The main constituent parties of the UPFA are the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP). United National Party (UNP) came second and the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) third.
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Major political parties to hold final election rallies Tuesday

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 March 2004, 21:28 GMT]
The final election rallies of major political parties are to be held Tuesday evening in various parts of the country bringing the one and a half months old bitter election campaign to an end two days before the April 2nd poll, political sources said.
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Final week takes political leaders to many electorates

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 March 2004, 03:56 GMT]
With five days to go for the Sri Lanka’s thirteen parliamentary election leaders of major political parties are conducting whirlwind tour of electorates to beat the deadline for ending their election campaign on midnight March 30th. Meanwhile the Election Commissioner has instructed heads of electronic media to stop all election advertisements and political interviews and other election related programmes from midnight of March 29, seventy two hours prior to the polling day.
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Trincomalee UNP Tamil contestant withdraws candidacy

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 March 2004, 14:06 GMT]
Mr. Nagarajah Sambasivamoorthy, one of the seven candidates put forward by the ruling United National Party to contest the forthcoming general election in the Trincomalee electoral district, said Thursday that he has withdrawn from the contest, political sources in Trincomalee said.


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Karuna Group eyes cabinet portfolio

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 March 2004, 06:28 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance candidates in Batticaloa who might be elected in the April polls to Sri Lanka’s Parliament should be ready to work with the government that comes to power in Colombo, according to instructions issued Monday by the Karuna Group to Tamil politicians in the troubled eastern district, sources said. One of the TNA MPs elected from Batticaloa would be given a cabinet portfolio, according to Mr. Rajan Sathiyamoorthy, a TNA candidate who is a confidante of Mr. V. Muraleetharan, the leader of the Karuna Group.
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UPFA silent on peace process, CFA - Wickremesinghe

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 March 2004, 11:38 GMT]
"Eventhough there is a voice in the south that is calling for the abrogation of the Ceasefire Agreement and to start war, we are determined to pursue the path of peace," said Sri Lanka's Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe speaking at an election meeting held in Vavuniya Urban Council grounds Saturday.


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Sri Lanka election violence on the increase

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 March 2004, 00:49 GMT]
The Police Election Secretariat said Saturday that it receives daily at least ten complaints related to election violence from political parties. From February 17, the first day political parties started submitting their nomination list at the district election offices, until this Friday the Election Secretariat has received 373 complaints, Police sources said.


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Negotiations with LTTE, Presidency to be abolished - UPFA manifesto

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 March 2004, 15:19 GMT]
"The ceasefire will continue. We are committed to take all measures required to prevent the nation from going back to war," said the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) in its forty four-page election manifesto released Thursday night at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute, political sources in Colombo said.


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EPDP supports Kumaratunga, Marxist alliance

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 March 2004, 15:07 GMT]
EPDP, a paramilitary group operating with the Sri Lanka army, said Wednesday in Jaffna that it supports the alliance between President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party and the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna. Addressing press conference in its heavily fortified camp in Jaffna town, the leader of the group, Mr. Douglas Devananda, defended the JVP, saying that it was not a Sinhala chauvinist party.
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IGP to deploy Home Guards for NorthEast election duty

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 February 2004, 13:30 GMT]
"Home guards would be deployed to assist the police to maintain law and order during the election period in the northeast province, said the Inspector General of Police Mr.Indra de Silva, according to media sources.
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