Nominations open for Sri Lankan polls

By Nirupama Subramanian

COLOMBO, OCT. 20. Nominations for Sri Lanka's forthcoming parliamentary elections opened today but major political parties are expected to submit their lists of candidates only next week.

The ruling People's Alliance will file its lists next Wednesday. The party has to find new faces to replace the large number of elected politicians who have recently defected from its side to the United National Party.

Local media have reported that the former Sri Lanka cricket captain, Arjuna Ranatunga, might be one of the contestants for the PA.

Elections in Sri Lanka are a mix of the proportional representation and preferential voting systems, and every political party submits one list of candidates for each of the 22 electoral districts.

The main opposition United National Party (UNP), flooded by cross-over politicians, is struggling to accommodate the newcomers as well as its own members in its lists.

A Tamil website reported from the eastern district of Ampara that Muslim members in the UNP are up in arms against the leadership's reported plans to make room for candidates of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC)in its list for the district.

The last date for submitting nominations is October 27.

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