The Eastern Province had to decide on its own political future and if the people of the East wanted to elect the TMVP who had joined the democratic mainstream of politics it’s their choice. For our part, our alliance with the TMVP will continue, Minister of Education and UPFA General Secretary Susil Premjayanth said at yesterday's (9) UPFA press conference.

It would be a major victory for democracy if a group like that was elected to the Provincial Council as they do not stand for a Tamil Eelam, he said.

The UPFA list of candidates contesting the Eastern Provincial Council election today had 18 Muslims, 18 Tamils and 11 Sinhalese represent in national unity in the province. "After 20 years under the jackboot of terrorism, the province is witnessing an unprecedented development effort and we believe the people will vote for the UPFA as a symbolic gesture of opposing the reunification of the Northern and Eastern Provinces", he said.

Minister of Transport Dallas Alahapperuma said the major defeat of the LTTE was neither at Thoppigala, Mulaitivu or Killinochchi, but at the Provincial Council results to be declared at the district Secretariats of Batticaloa, Ampara and Trincomalee which will destroy the dream of Prabhakaran.

The UNP started its election campaign based on false propaganda claiming the Special Task Force was taken out of the Eastern Province to make way for the Pillaiyan Group. Next they said that the Provincial Council Election was to be postponed but both these allegations were proved false. Thirdly, the UNP alleged that 150,000 polling cards were being held at the post offices but when the Post Master General as a responsible official issued a statement saying that 98 percent of the polling cards were distributed, a record for any election the third lie of the UNP boomeranged on them, he said.

The government had been able to bring a practical solution to the ethnic problem in the Eastern Province after 30 years by inviting all groups to come together in governing their own province. This was also the first time that the Tamil leadership of the East had rejected the UNP leadership as both the UNP leader and his ally the SLMC leader has signed agreements with the LTTE terrorist leader Prabhakaran. But before that although Saumyamoorthy Thondaman and P. Chandrasekaran too held talks with Prabhakaran, but both did not sign an agreement with the terrorist leader, he said.

The last Local Government Election in the Eastern Province had been reported by election monitors as being free and fair.