1988. The first elections for provincial councils took place on 28 April 1988 in North Central, North Western, Sabaragamuwa, and Uva provinces. Elections in the newly merged North Eastern Province were scheduled for 19 November 1988. However, the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF), which at that time occupied the province, rigged the elections in the north so that the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) and Eelam National Democratic Liberation Front (ENDLF), two Indian backed paramilitary groups, won all of the 36 seats in the north uncontested. However, elections did take place for the 35 seats in the east. The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress won 17 seats, EPRLF 12 seats, ENDLF 5 seats and the United National Party 1 seat. On 10 December 1988 Annamalai Varadaraja Perumal, a former lecturer at the Jaffna University Economics Department, of the EPRLF became the first Chief Minister of the North Eastern Provincial Council. On 1 March 1990, just as the IPKF were preparing to withdraw from Sri Lanka, Perumal moved a motion in the North-East Provincial Council declaring an independent Eelam. President Premadasa reacted to Perumal's UDI by dissolving the provincial council and imposing direct rule on the province. The province was ruled directly from Colombo until May 2008 when elections were held for the demerged Eastern Provincial Council. The first consecutive Northern Provincial Council elections took place in 2013, with ITAK securing a majority of votes. C. V. Vigneswaran was appointed as the 1st Chief Minister of Northern Province following the results. Governors The governors of the Sri Lankan provinces tend to be mostly retired politicians, judges and military officers. The North Eastern Province had six governors in its 18 years of existence: References External links Provinces of Sri Lanka . . 1988 establishments in Sri Lanka 2006 disestablishments in Sri Lanka States and territories established in 1998 States and territories disestablished in 2006 Foreign intervention in the Sri Lankan Civil War Indian Peace Keeping Force