CWC, SLMC, UPF leaders to address UNP election rally

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 October 2005, 06:43 GMT]
The United National Party (UNP) will hold a presidential election rally, the first to be held after handing in nominations, in the hill town of Kandy, Saturday evening. UNP presidential candidate Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe with the leaders of the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and the Upcountry People's Front (UPF) will address the meeting, political sources in Kandy said.


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Rajapakse, Wickremasinghe, eleven others contest presidential election

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 October 2005, 03:50 GMT]
Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse, Prime Minister and Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe, UNP leader and eleven others from other parties handed in their nominations to contest the forthcoming presidential election, which is fixed for November 17. Election Commissioner Mr.Dayananda Dissanayake issued a statement in this regard around 11.30 a. m. following the closure of nominations and after the expiry of the time for objections, election department sources said.
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Doyen of FP, uncompromising on Tamil National question

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 October 2005, 00:16 GMT]
Are leaders of Sinhala community prepared to share state power with Tamils? Mr. V. Navaratnam, the only surviving founder member of the Federal Party that provided political leadership to Tamils for more than three decades since it was formed in 1949, and described as the brain behind FP, shared with TamilNet his views on Tamil National struggle. The doyen of Tamil politics who negotiated with the father of the incumbent President Chandrika Kumaratunge and other Sri Lanka leaders for sharing state power within a federal framework for almost three decades turns 96-years this month in Montreal, Canada. He also inked the Bandaranaiyake Chelvanayagam pact.
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CWC to announce its stand on presidential election

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 October 2005, 04:16 GMT]
The Ceylon Workers' Congress (CWC), leading political party in the hill country representing upcountry Tamils is to officially announce its position in the forthcoming presidential election Wednesday morning at a media briefing held at Trans Asia Hotel, Colombo. The CWC is a constituent of the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government.
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CWC to support Wickremasinghe for President

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 October 2005, 12:40 GMT]
The decision of the Ceylon Workers Congress led by Arumugam Thondaman to support the Presidential candidate of the UNP, Ranil Wickremasinghe, is almost conclusive, informed sources said.
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SLFP to begin work on manifesto

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 October 2005, 00:28 GMT]
The Central Committee of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Friday appointed a nine-member committee to draft the manifesto for the presidential election at a tensed meeting presided by Sri Lanka's President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge held at the Presidential House Friday, political sources said. The Manifesto has to be ratified by the Central Committee before it is officially released.
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Kumaratunge speech avoids reference to presidential polls

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 September 2005, 15:19 GMT]
In the first public rally attended by Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Kumaratunge since her return from the UN annual general meeting in New York on Tuesday, she avoided making statements in support of her party's Presidential candidate Premier Mahinda Rajapakse, sources said. The public rally was held to relaunch the Sri Lanka Transport Board at Nittambuwa on Wednesday.


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Court blocks CID investigation into Rajapakse bank account

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 September 2005, 02:18 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Supreme Court Wednesday issued interim order preventing the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Police from conducting investigation into the "Helping Hambantota" Bank Account, legal sources in Colombo said. The Chief Justice made the order when the Fundamental Rights Violation Application filed by Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse, Prime Minister and ruling party presidential candidate came up for inquiry.
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'EU Statement, an impediment to peace, says IFT

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 September 2005, 20:16 GMT]
Calling the statement from the European Union [EU], which criticised the Liberation Tigers, as one-sided and "unfair," the Geneva-based International Federation of Tamils (IFT), a consortium of more than 150 expatriate Tamil organizations, in a press statement issued Tuesday urged the member states of the European Union to refrain from taking any "punitive action" against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) noting that the move will jeopardise the success of the peace process.
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Retired Commanders denounce JVP Leader's call to disband Security Forces

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 September 2005, 00:52 GMT]
Retired commanders of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces, General S.C.Ranatunge, Air Vice Marshal Harry Gunatilake, Lt.General Dennis Perera and General Hamilton Wanasinghe, Monday in a signed press release condemned the statement made by Mr.Somawanse Amerasinghe, leader of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) directing the Prime Minister Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse to disband the government security forces no sooner he is elected Executive President of Sri Lanka if the security forces are unable to safeguard the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka.
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DLF split on support to Rajapakse

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 September 2005, 02:57 GMT]
Senior member of Democratic Left Front (DLF), Professor Kumar David, Friday dissociated himself from a press release issued by Secretary of DLF, Vasudeva Nanayakkara, and party's National Organizer, Quintus Liyanage, that expressed support to Sri Lanka's Presidential candidate Rajapakse in the forthcoming presidential elections.
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Expect a new war – newspaper

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 September 2005, 02:06 GMT]
Political events in Sri Lanka are overtaking the international efforts to create a lasting peace and it is only a matter of time before the island’s ascending Sinhala nationalist forces trigger a new war, the Tamil Guardian newspaper argued in its editorial this week. “If Sri Lanka is so preoccupied by dubious questions of [LTTE gaining] legitimacy that it is prepared to allow the disintegration of the ceasefire, what hope is there for negotiations on a political solution?” the English language Diaspora publication asked.


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Colombo lacks will, ability to address Tamil National question- TNA

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 September 2005, 01:42 GMT]
Tamil people will be forced to urge the International community to "explicitely endorse the Tamil people's struggle for self-determination," if the Sri Lankan State continues to be intransigent in resolving the Tamil National question, warned Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in a press release issued in Colombo Thursday.
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Debate on extending State of Emergency begins in SL Parliament

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 September 2005, 08:08 GMT]
Sri Lanka's parliament began a one day debate Wednesday morning on extending the State of Emergency in the island for another month. The Sri Lankan Government declared State of Emergency on August 13 following the killing of its Foreign Minister Mr.Lakshman Kadirgamar allegedly by a sniper. The parliament convened later to approve the declaration with the support of the ruling party, JVP, JHU, UNP, CWC and NUA, parliamentary sources said.
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Rajapakse, JVP kick off joint election campaign

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 September 2005, 19:26 GMT]
Sri Lanka's premier Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse nominated as the SLFP presidential candidate vowed Tuesday to thwart all attempts by opposing parties with "vested interest" to defeat him in the forthcoming SL presidential polls on November 17. Mr. Rajapakse was addressing his first presidential election rally in Colombo Town Hall ground attended by representatives of political parties extending support to Mr. Rajapakse, including the Sinhala extremist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP). However, Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) key figures including Mr. Ratnasiri Wickremanayake were absent.
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Posters of aspiring Sri Lanka Presidents to be removed

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 September 2005, 11:08 GMT]
After the announcement of the date for the Presidential polls on the 17th November, the polls chief has ordered the police Monday to remove all cutouts, and posters which are illegal according to the election laws in Sri Lanka, sources in Colombo said. According to the department of Elections during the period of elections the police force will get the instructions from the polls chief to pave way for a free and fair polls.
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SL Presidential elections to be held on November 17

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 September 2005, 12:11 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Presidential election is fixed for 17th November, 2005. The announcement was made by the Commissioner of Elections, Dayananda Dissanayake, Monday. The nominations will be accepted before the 7th of October. In the forthcoming elections, 13.3 million Sri Lankans will be eligible to vote, as reported by the elections department. There will be 60,000 policemen on duty, island-wide. The exercise will cost Rs. 90 million.


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'There is no place for moderates'

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 September 2005, 05:40 GMT]
Even as his party leader and incumbent President Chandrika Kumaratunga wrapped herself in the tenets of liberalism whilst addressing the United Nations last week, her party's candidate for her succession, Mahinda Rajapakse, continued to tread an unabashedly Sinhala ultra-nationalist platform at home.
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Peace approach should transcend party politics- paper

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 September 2005, 16:59 GMT]
"The peace process requires an approach that transcends narrow and warped ambitions of party politics. The two Presidential candiates, Premier Mahinda Rajapaksa and Opposition leader Ranil Wickramesinghe, must refrain from making the peace process an issue at the forthcoming Presidential elections," said an editorial of Thinakkural, a popular Tamil daily in its Thursday edition.


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Rajapakse, JHU exchange agreement

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 September 2005, 10:51 GMT]
Prime Minister Rajapakse of Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and Ellawela Methantha Thera of Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) exchanged agreement for the forthcoming Presidential election at Dalada Maligawa, Kandy Tuesday morning at 1130am. The parties agreed in principle to terminate talks on the Post Tsunami Operational Management Structure (P-TOMS) and to find a solution to the ethnic crisis on the basis of a unitary state.


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