JAFFNA: Rebel leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran will make one of the most important decisions of Sri Lanka’s election campaign on Tuesday when he reveals whether Tamils should vote. What the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) says or does not say in his “Heroes Day” speech to honour rebels who have died fighting for a separate Tamil state could determine how the voting goes in Jaffna next month, politicians say.
Voter turnout has traditionally been low in Jaffna as the LTTE has strongly opposed what it calls a “racist Sinhala institution”. During parliamentary elections last year the Tigers shelled government-controlled Jaffna town to show their displeasure at the voting, and in the past have also assassinated Tamil candidates calling them traitors.
Just 120,000 of 500,000 registered voters cast their ballots last year, although many others were displaced by the fighting that has raged on the northern peninsula. “It all depends on November 27,” says Kandiah Sanmuganathan, the government agent for Jaffna, of Prabhakaran’s speech.
Sri Lankans go to the polls on Dec 5 after a year of political and economic turmoil since elections last year that ended in a hung parliament amid what poll monitors said was massive vote rigging. The ruling People’s Alliance has been forced into a snap election by a series of defections in October. So far, there has been no direct comment by the LTTE on the election.
Politicians say that could be because of the changed situation in the world, following the Sept 11 attacks on the United States, towards such groups as the Tigers. The LTTE, which has been waging an 18-year battle for an independent Tamil state, has been on the US State Department’s list of foreign terrorist groups since 1996.
“There may be changes that may be connected to the Taliban. Countries are listing their names (of terrorist groups), and they (the LTTE) must be careful,” said Sanmuganathan.
Some Tamil politicians believe the Tigers may not oppose the voting on December 5 simply because the LTTE votes could undermine the efforts of pro-government politicians. The Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP), which supports President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s ruling People’s Alliance, holds four of Jaffna’s nine seats.
“Earlier people thought the LTTE were against the elections,” said V. Anandasangaree, a Tamil United Liberation Front lawmaker seeking re-election under the Tamil National Alliance banner. “This time there are no instructions to boycott the election,” he said. “They (the LTTE) may ask people not to vote for any candidate belonging to a major political party.”
The Tamil alliance’s campaign platform — that a ban on the Tigers be lifted, a government ceasefire put in place and negotiations started — mirrors LTTE demands. “I think, unofficially, the LTTE has given the green light for the election,” added N. Vithyatharan, the associate editor of the Tamil-language Uthayan newspaper in Jaffna.
Other Jaffna residents were confident that Prabhakaran would not mention the election, signalling approval for an anti-EPDP vote. “I don’t think he will say anything, the silence will go on,” said Anglican priest S.P. Nesakumar. It is like saying “please go and vote and defeat the EPDP,” he said.
Prabhakaran surprised many last year when he called for talks to end the conflict and declared a four-month ceasefire.
The government refused to match the truce and the peace process collapsed during haggling over conditions for talks and political turmoil that has left the minority government beholden to a Marxist ally opposed to the Norwegian-brokered talks.—Reuters
