Parliament to meet sans cabinet, Anura speaker

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 October 2000, 17:12 GMT]
Sri Lanka's eleventh Parliament will meet Wednesday sans a cabinet of ministers as President Chandrika Kumaratunga continues to negotiate with senior PA politicians and coalition partners who are tussling and bargaining for plum portfolios in the new government. Meanwhile, the PA and United National Party said that a consensus was possible on electing Mr.Anura Bandaranaike, the President's brother who is an opposition MP, as the speaker of the eleventh Parliament Wednesday.
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Powerful cabinet portfolio offered -EPDP

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 October 2000, 12:50 GMT]
The Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) said that the Sri Lankan government has offered it a powerful cabinet portfolio and some deputy ministries in the new government. EPDP sources in Jaffna said that the party has sought a ministry that would give them power over development, rehabilitation and other key affairs of the north and east.
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Final results of polls released

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 October 2000, 10:23 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Commissioner of Elections Wednesday officially announced the results of the elections to Parliament following the delay in the counting of votes in the Kandy district where widespread rigging was reported.
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SLMC crucial for PA forming government

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 October 2000, 17:00 GMT]
The People's Alliance and its minority allies, the Eelam People's Democratic Front and the National Unity Alliance, together have obtained enough seats to form the government in Sri Lanka. However, the decision of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress will be crucial for the PA in forming the government this week. Six SLMC candidates, four who contested on the PA list and two on the NUA list, have been elected.
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EPDP gets four seats in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 October 2000, 12:26 GMT]
The Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) won the majority of the seats in Jaffna said election officials in the north Wednesday afternoon. The pro-government Tamil group secured four seats with 41,671 votes amidst allegations of rigging. The Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) got three seats. The United National Party (UNP) won a seat in Jaffna after 48 years. The All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) secured one seat. There are nine Parliamentary seats in the electoral district of Jaffna.
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TULF, PLOTE claim massive election fraud

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 October 2000, 18:23 GMT]
"More than ninety thousand votes of the total of about two hundred thousand votes said to have been polled today in Jaffna were rigged" said the leader of the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) Mr.Dharmalingam Sidarthan, the chief candidate of the ex-Tamil militant group contesting the elections to the Sri Lankan Parliament. Mr.Sidarthan told TamilNet Tuesday evening that he has requested the Commissioner of Elections not to declare the results of the Kayts and Kankesanthurai polling divisions in Jaffna because of the massive rigging.
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EPDP abducts UNP polling agents

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 October 2000, 06:29 GMT]
The Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP), the chief Tamil ally of the People's Alliance, abducted 19 polling agents of the United National Party (UNP) at Kayts in Jaffna while they were on their way to polling booths in the island.
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Rigging feared in Jaffna 'cluster booths'

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 October 2000, 21:39 GMT]
Jaffna goes to polls tomorrow amidst fears of widespread rigging. Officials at the Jaffna district secretariat said that voter turn out is expected to be low mainly due to the fighting between the Liberation Tigers and the Sri Lankan army in the southern sector of the peninsula.
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Grenade attacks in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 October 2000, 09:23 GMT]
Three members of the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP), a pro-government ex-militant group were seriously wounded in a grenade attack in Jaffna. The attack took place between Nachchimarakoviladi and Poonarimarathady on the Jaffna-Kankesanthurai road, about 4 km. off north of Jaffna town around 12.30 p.m. Thursday.
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Demonstrators attack TULF office

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 October 2000, 15:04 GMT]
A group of persons said to have been members of the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) Tuesday afternoon staged a one hour demonstration in front of the Jaffna office of the Tamil United Liberation Front, from 12.30 pm.
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PM ignorant of Jaffna predicament- SLFP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 September 2000, 18:27 GMT]
"The Prime Minister does not know much about the Jaffna situation" said the chief organiser of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party in Jaffna, responding to a question about the hawkish pronouncements of Mr. Ratnasiri Wickremanayaka during a press conference in the northern town Saturday.
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TELO, TULF vote against draconian law

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 September 2000, 16:51 GMT]
The emergency regulations promulgated by the Sri Lankan President were passed in Parliament Thursday by a majority of ninety six votes. The Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation, the Sri Lanka Progressive Front and the Tamil United Liberation Front together cast five votes against the emergency. Members of the pro-government armed Tamil group, the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) voted for the draconian regulations that enable the government to gag the media and give sweeping powers to the Sri Lankan security forces to arrest and detain and to bypass normal procedures in law relating to inquest and investigation into deaths in custody or caused by their actions.
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Parents, SLFP protest EPDP action

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 September 2000, 19:24 GMT]
The family of a Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) supporter, including women, were severely assaulted Sunday morning by cadres of the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) in Sanguvely south in Jaffna while in Pt.Pedro about thirty persons, the parents and relatives of a student of Hartley College implicated by the pro-government armed group in a grenade attack, sat in protest in front of the EPDP office at Manthikai this morning sources said.
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EPDP threatens UNP candidates

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 September 2000, 21:17 GMT]
Two more candidates contesting Parliamentary elections in Jaffna withdrew from the race due to threats by the pro-government armed Tamil group, the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) opposition sources said. The two, Sabaratnam Jeyaratnam and Sithamparapillai Rasathurai, are candidates of the United National Party (UNP).
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EPDP accused of intimidation

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 September 2000, 15:21 GMT]
The Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) has blamed the EPDP for threatening and intimidating its candidates contesting next election in the northern Jaffna District, scheduled for 10 October.
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EPDP cadres injured in grenade attack

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 September 2000, 09:41 GMT]
Two members of the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) and two of its supporters were wounded when a grenade was lobbed at them by unidentified persons while they were pasting posters near the 1st mile post in Pt.Pedro in Jaffna last night around 7 p.m.
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EPDP cheating people of Jaffna -Anandasangari

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 September 2000, 20:24 GMT]
"The EPDP was Premadasa's agent from 1989 to 1994. It has been operating as Chandrika's agent since 1995. Douglas Devananda, who did not have even half a cent in the past, is now getting seven million rupees a month from the government. The EPDP is cheating the people of Jaffna" said Mr. V. Anandasangari, senior vice President of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) lashing out at the pro-Sri Lankan government armed Tamil group, the Eelam People's Democratic party, at a press conference in Jaffna town Tuesday morning.
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Nine parties contest in Trinco district

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 September 2000, 14:37 GMT]
Five political parties and an Independent Group today submitted their nomination papers to contest the Trincomalee electoral district during the forthcoming general elections.
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'Sihala Urumaya' contests in North

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 September 2000, 12:48 GMT]
A Sinhalese nationalist party, 'Sihala Urumaya' today submitted its nomination papers to contest the northern electoral districts of Jaffna and Vanni in the forthcoming general election.
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EPDP regrets 'grave' blunder

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 August 2000, 10:30 GMT]
The pro-government Tamil group, Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) Monday said it regretted a major blunder in an election ad it published yesterday in the Jaffna dailies Uthayan and Valampuri which may have cost it the patronage of the Sri Lankan President. "Chemmani exposed the Lady" ('Ammaniyai ambalappaduthiathu Chemmani) ran the EPDP's election ad in the Sunday edition of the papers, implicating the Sri Lankan President in the massacre of more than 600 Jaffna civilians arrested by the Sri Lankan security forces in 1996.
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