The UNP and SLMC held talks yesterday about the possibility of forging an alliance for the Eastern Provincial Council elections and the issues concerning the two parties when campaigning.

UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake told the Daily Mirror that the parties exchanged ideas about the issues such as the disarmament of certain armed groups, withdrawal of the Special Task Force (STF) from the East and the arbitrary transfer of police officials.

Mr. Attanayake said the leaders of the two parties would meet again next week to take a final decision regarding the forging of an alliance for the election. He said that they also discussed the need to deploy foreign election observers to the East on the day of polling.