The 2nd Eastern Provincial Council is the current

Eastern Provincial Council The Eastern Provincial Council (EPC ta, கிழக்கு மாகாண சபை ''Kiḻakku Mākāṇa Capai''; si, නැගෙනහිර පළාත් සභාව “Nagenahira Palat Sabava”; EPC) is the provincial council for ...

, with the membership determined by the results of the 2012 provincial council election held on 8 September 2012. The council met for the first time on 1 October 2012. According to the

Constitution of Sri Lanka The Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාව, Śrī Laṃkā āndukrama vyavasthāva, ta, இலங்கை அரசிய� ...

the maximum term of a provincial council is 5 years from the date of its first meeting.

Election

The 2nd Eastern Provincial Council election was held on 8 September 2012. The incumbent

United People's Freedom Alliance The United People's Freedom Alliance ( abbreviated UPFA; si, එක්සත් ජනතා නිදහස් සන්ධානය ''Eksath Janathā Nidahas Sandānaya''; ta, ஐக்கிய மக்கள் சுதந்திரக ...

(UPFA) lost overall control of the council after winning only 14 of the 37 seats. The

Tamil National Alliance The Tamil National Alliance ( ta, தமிழ்த் தேசியக் கூட்டமைப்பு ISO 15919: ''tamiḻt tēciyakkūṭṭamaippu''; TNA) is a political alliance in Sri Lanka that represents the country's Sri Lankan ...

(TNA), which had boycotted the previous election, became the second largest group after winning 11 seats. The

Sri Lanka Muslim Congress The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress ( ta, சிறீலங்கா முஸ்லீம் காங்கிரஸ், translit=Srīlaṅkā Muslīm Kāṅkiras; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා මුස්ලිම් කොංග්‍රස� ...

(SLMC) and

United National Party The United National Party, often abbreviated as UNP ( si, එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය, translit=Eksath Jāthika Pakshaya, ta, ஐக்கிய தேசியக் கட்சி, translit=Aikkiya Tēciyak Kaṭci), ...

won 7 and 4 seats respectively. The

National Freedom Front The Jathika Nidahas Peramuna (JNP) or ''National Freedom Front'' (NFF) is a political party in Sri Lanka was formed by the ten JVP parliamentarians led by Wimal Weerawansa, the breakaway group of Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna or JVP, started their po ...

won the remaining seat.

Results

The new provincial council met for the first time on 1 October 2012. Ariyawathi Galappaththy (UPFA-SLFP) and M. S. Subair (UPFA-ACMC) were elected Chairman and Deputy Chairman respectively.

Government/Board of Ministers

The UPFA was able to form an administration with the support of the SLMC. Under the agreement between the UPFA and SLMC a UPFA nominee would serve as

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...

for two and half years after a which a SLMC nominee would become Chief Minister.

M. N. Abdul Majeed Mohamed Najeeb Abdul Majeed ( ta, நஜீப் அப்துல் மஜீத்; born 1 January 1957) is a Sri Lankan politician, former Member of Parliament and former Chief Minister of Eastern Province. Early life and family Majee ...

of the UPFA was appointed Chief Minister by

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Mohan Wijewickrama. Majeed was sworn in on 18 September 2012 in

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...

in front of

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese f ...

Mahinda Rajapaksa Mahinda Rajapaksa ( si, මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ, ta, மஹிந்த ராஜபக்ஷ; born Percy Mahendra Rajapaksa; 18 November 1945) is a Sri Lankan politician. He served as the President of Sri Lanka from 2005 to ...

. The four government ministers appointed by the Governor with effect from 24 September 2012 were: Ibrahim Mohamed Mohamed Mansoor (SLMC); Meera Sahibu Udumalebbe (UPFA-NC); Dissanayaka Wimalaweera (UPFA-SLFP); and Ahamed Nazeer Zainulabdeen (SLMC). As a result the Sri Lankan Tamils had no representation in the Board of Ministers (the government) despite being the largest ethnic group in the province.

Changes in party/alliance affiliations

A few days after the election there were reports that some TNA councillors were being threatened and coerced into joining the UPFA. It was reported that members of the

military intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from ...

were involved in the threats. G. Krishnapillai,

M. Nadarajah Markandu Nadarajah is a Sri Lankan Tamil politician and provincial councillor. Nadarajah contested the 2012 provincial council election as one of the Tamil National Alliance's candidates in Batticaloa District and was elected to the Eastern P ...

, Kumaraswamy Nageswaran, N. Indirakumar and Murugesu Rajeswaran were offered land, money, houses, vehicles and government construction contracts, and threatened with relatives being arrested. None of the TNA councillors gave into the threats and the TNA lodged a complaint with the Election Commissioner.

Members

References

* * * * * {{reflist, 2 2012 establishments in Sri Lanka Eastern Provincial Council