COLOMBO, DEC 3: Sri Lankan government on Wednesday announced elections to local government in Jaffna peninsula and other areas of the Tamil-dominated north where the Army has established control over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam but Tamil political parties seemed reluctant to participate.The Election Commission has issued a notification announcing polls to Jaffna Municipal Council, three urban councils and 12 village councils in the peninsula and one in Killinochchi and has called for nominations between December 16 and 23. Elections can be held between four weeks and two months after the nominations deadline.Jaffna, which was administered exclusively by the Tigers till 1994, was wrested from their control in a Sri Lankan military offensive in December 1995. Since then, the bare bones of a government civil administration have been put in place but the area is largely administered by the Army and all important decisions made by them.Local body elections to the troubled peninsula were once before announced exactly a year ago and later postponed indefinitely on a plea by Tamil parties that the situation in the area was not conducive to free and fair elections.However, after a year, Tamil politicians are still of the view that free elections are not possible yet in the peninsula although in these 12 months, three non-LTTE Tamil political parties - EPDP, EPRLF and PLOTE - have reopened their offices in Jaffna with help from the Army.
