Independent in presidential elections: TULF M.P.

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 October 1999, 09:50 GMT]
The Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) will not support any political parties in the forthcoming presidential election, said Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham, M.P for the Batticaloa District. The party will play an independent role, he said, while commenting on President Kumaratunga's announcement yesterday to hold early elections.

"The TULF will not repeat the historic blunder it made in the last presidential election", said Mr. Pararajasingham, who is also the leader of the party's parliamentary group.

The Tamil People should decide on their own to which candidate they shall vote for, on the basis how they and their party have been handling the Tamil issue, the MP said.

During the last presidential election, held in November 1994, the TULF appealed to Tamils to vote for Mrs. Chandrika Kumaratunga.

Mrs. Kumaratunga won the elections with overwhelming majority in the Tamil dominated Districts. She received over 87 % of the registered votes in the Batticaloa District while the main opposition party's candidate, Mrs. Shrimathy Dissanayake, got under 9 percent.

"We believed she would resolve the ethnic conflict and appealed to the Tamil People to vote for her. But now a solution has not been found and the situation is becoming more and more complex" Mr. Pararajasingham said.

The MP further said TULF's working committee would meet soon to and discuss party's position regarding the next presidential election.

Meanwhile the leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), A.H.M.Ashraff said his party will continue its support to Mrs.Kumaratunga in the next election on condition.

The SLMC, which has 7 members in the Parliament is a key ally of the ruling People's Alliance (PA).

The PA won 105 seats and the United National Party 94 in the elections held in August 1994 for the 225-seat parliament.