The Thamil Makkal Vidudal Puligal (TMVP) party wins 72 of 101 seats on nine local councils, the first elections in Eastern Sri Lanka for 14 years. For the municipal council of Batticaloa, the TMVP – contesting the elections under the banner of the ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) – secured 11 of its 19 seats after obtaining 53.77 percent of the 26,331 valid votes.
Sources
Breakaway rebel group wins elections in eastern Sri Lanka, Hindustan Times, 11 March 2008; Former Tigers win Sri Lanka poll, Al Jazeera, 11 March 2008; Armed, state-backed ex-rebels win Sri Lanka poll, Reuters, 11 March 2008
Quotations
“I believe that the representatives of the people chosen in this peaceful election are the harbingers of success in the historic march to strengthen and widen democracy in our country.” President Rajapakse.
“In Batticaloa, not only TMVP, [but] many other armed groups are also there. Some of the Muslims also have arms. They have been keeping the arms with them. So I am not going to say this election is a free and fair one. ” Kingsley Rodrigo, chairman of the People’s Alliance for Free and Fair Elections.
“Supreme Commander Pillaiyan has spent most of his life wearing the jungle camouflage uniform of the Tamil Tigers. He joined the guerrillas at age 16, angry at the hardships faced by Sri Lanka’s Tamil minority and the rough way they were treated by the country’s armed forces. But four years ago, disillusioned with the Tamil Tigers’ longtime leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, he was among thousands of guerrillas who defected to the government side. He now wears a beige safari suit and black loafers and serves as Chief Minister of Sri Lanka’s Eastern Province, although he still answers to his nom de guerre, Pillaiyan,” Inside Sri Lanka: Your cash going to arms, say ex-rebels, 22 September 2008.
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