ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s main ethnic Tamil minority party Ilankai Thamil Arasuk Katchi (ITAK) will not field its own candidate for the upcoming September 25 presidential candidate, but it will back the candidate who will have a manifesto that will have a solution for power devolution among many others, the party officials said.
ITAK has a strong say in the island nation’s ethnic Tamil minority dominating North and East where the voters in the past have backed the candidate decided by ITAK-led Tamil National Alliance (TNA).
M. A. Sumanthiran, an ITAK legislator said the part has already had discussions with opposition leader Sajith Premadasa and Marxists Janatha Vimukthi Peremuna (JVP) leader Anura Kumara Dissanayaka.
“President Wickremesinghe has only announced his candidacy today. So will also be discussing with him and we will decide after careful consideration,” Sumanthiran told reporters at a media briefing in Colombo on Friday (25).
“We will not field our own candidate as we do not expect the candidate to solve only the Tamils’ issue. The person should be capable to handle all the issues the country has faced with.”
Several Tamil political parties and representatives from civil organisations this early this week reached an agreement to present a Tamil common candidate for the forthcoming Presidential Election. The move could split the Tamil votes between other main candidates.
On Friday, President Ranil Wickremesinghe paid the deposit money to contest in the election.
Votes from ethnic minority Tamils, Muslims, and Catholics are likely to crucial in the upcoming election, political analysts say. Most political parties have started discussions and negotiations with minority parties.
“In our party discussions, we have mainly focused on the solution to the Tamil National question,” Sumanthiran said.
“We have had discussions with President Wickremesinghe since he assumed office on implementing the provisions that are already in the constitutions. He promised do all of that, but nothing has been done so far.”
“We seek meaningful devolution and want to implement things we have agreed in the past time to time.”
The ITAK has been demanding the full implementation of the 13th Constitutional Amendment which would allow police and land powers to provincial governments. The amendment was enacted in line with an agreement between Sri Lanka and India as a solution to the Tamils’ long demand of power sharing.
Though successive governments have promised to implement the 13th amendment minus police power, it is yet to be implemented.
“We will still talk. What we want is to create a platform to discuss all our issues with the candidates and not let them to say what they want to say. Instead we want them to answer the questions we have.” Sumanthiran said. (Colombo/July 26/2024)