Sri Lanka's opposition parties are divided on the prospect of contesting an election to be held in the north. While the main opposition United National Party (UNP) handed in nomination papers to contest the election, the next largest opposition group, the leftist party JVP (People's Liberation Front) decided to opt out of the contesting.

The Sri Lankan government had called elections for the northern Jaffna Municipal Council and the Vavuniya Urban Council. The date for the elections is expected to be announced on Wednesday.

"We handed over nominations for the Jaffna election yesterday while we will be giving our nominations to contest the Vavuniya election tomorrow," Jayalath Jayawardhana, a UNP legislator told reporters on Tuesday.

Jayawardhana said that although the conditions for a free and fair election were very much in doubt given the security situation his party had a duty to contest democratic elections.

Meanwhile, Tilwin Silva, the general secretary of the JVP said his party would not be contesting as there was no normalcy in the areas.

"The war (with Tamil Tiger rebels) has just ended month ago so the situation is still not right to hold elections," Silva stressed.

This will be the first local council election in the Northern Province since 1998 and the first election since the government troops gained control of the entire Northern Province from the grasp of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Jaffna has been under Army control since December 1995 while Vavuniya was front-line town in the war between the troops and the rebels in the last three decades.

Some 23 members would be elected to the Jaffna Municipal Council and 19 members would be elected for the Vavuniya Urban Council.

Both towns are dominated by the minority Tamils.