Sri Lanka's ruling party received a major boost ahead of next week's local council election when the Appeal Court here Friday upheld a decision by the election authorities to reject the nomination list filed by the main opposition United National Party (UNP) for the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC).

The UNP's list of nominations for the Colombo Municipal Council, the island's largest local authority was rejected by the Elections Department on technical grounds that an underaged candidate had been included in the list in violation of the election laws.

The UNP filed a petition in the Appeal Court seeking redress in a bid to contest the election and retain the control of the CMC, which they had controlled continuously over four decades.

"We will file action in the Supreme Court against the Appeal Court decision," the UNP's Assistant Secretary Tissa Attanayake said after the court ruling.

The UNP sources said they would explore the possibility of backing one of the independent back up teams in the election in an attempt to gain control of the CMC.

The local elections for 266 of the 330 councils will be held next Thursday while elections for councils in the war battered north and east regions would be held six months later on Sept. 30.

Source: Xinhua