The Director, Migrant Services Centre, Mr. David Soysa, in The Island of the 12th instant, has lucidly set out the incumbent need to have migrant workers exercise their voting rights at elections.

Judging from the statisties he has provided and from the results of the just concluded general election, this group of voters could have had a big say in the ultimate winners, if only there had been the mechanism for them to exercise the franchise.

On two or more occasions after the 1994 elections, I too made a case for their inclusion as voters — more especially as they are a vital cog in the economy as foreign exchange earners, but politicians have had no time to give a thought to this matter. Hopefully, the next general election will find them in a position to cast their votes.

J. N. Jordan
Pitakotte