Sri Lanka plans to hold local body elections in north

Over a year after liberating the northern region from the LTTE, Sri Lanka plans to hold early elections to local bodies in the region dominated by minority Tamils.

Riding high on his re-election as president and his Freedom Party-led alliance getting elected for a second consecutive term, Mahinda Rajapaksa is planning to hold early polls in the once embattled northern Sri Lanka.

"The government will restore democracy in the North by conducting local government elections shortly," Basil
Rajapaksa, the president's brother and cabinet minister, said.

"This opportunity will allow northerners to elect their  representatives to the local bodies as in other regions," the economic development minister said.
  
Northern Sri Lanka is dominated by minority Tamils and the entire region was liberated from the Tamil Tigers in May 2009 following the death of LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran.

Basil was speaking after inaugurating the Vavuniya- Chunnakkam electricity transmission line in Kilinochchi
yesterday.

"Local government elections would consolidate democratic rights of the northerners in the aftermath of the war," he was quoted as saying by the state-run Daily News. 

The government's greatest challenge is the management of post-development activities, Rajapaksa said adding despite
the challenges the development drive in the north has been
accelerated to uplift the livelihood of the people in the region.