[3] The civil war prevented elections from being held for PPUC until 1998 as the LTTE did not hold when it controlled the area.

In August 1995 the Sri Lankan military launched an offensive to recapture the Jaffna peninsula.

[7] The Tamil political parties were still opposed to holding elections as "normalcy" hadn't returned to the peninsula.

The life term of PPUC expired in February 2002 but the central government extended this by another year, as the law allows.

[16] Elections should have been held when the extension expired in February 2003 but in January 2003, following a request from the Tamil National Alliance, the central government instead dissolved PPUC using emergency powers and instead put in place special commissioners to administer the local area.

[18] In January 2004 elections in the north and east, except for local authorities in Ampara District, were postponed, for a fourth time, until 23 October 2004.