The leaders of minority parties, comprised of Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA), the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), the All Ceylon Muslim Congress (ACMC), the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP), the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and the United Socialist Party (USP) had met the prime minister at Temple Trees last evening(20) and insisted that the LG polls should be held under the Proportional Representation (PR) system.
They rejected the proposed new system, under which 30 percent of the local government members would be elected according to the PR system and 70 percent according to the ward system. They had said the minor parties would not gain anything if the elections are to be held according to the new system and they would not contest in such an event.
In response , Mr Wickremeisnghe had told the party leaders that he would have to discuss the matter with the President before agreeing on anything. Ministers Mano Ganesan and Rauff Hakeem, MPs Douglas Devananda and M A Sumanthiran, and United Socialist Party leader Siritunga Jayasuriya had participated in the meeting.
The leaders of the other minority parties had been in contact with those at the meeting though they were not present. The party leaders had also met the Indian Foreign Secretary S Jayasankar and discussed several issues concerning the minorities, including education, health and housing and how India could assist Sri Lanka in these sectors.
