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Karuna’s party wins majority in Batticaloa

COLOMBO: The Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pullikkal (TMVP), the party formed by former Tamil Tiger leaders including ‘Col.’ Karuna, won a majority of seats in eight of the nine local bodies in Batticaloa district in Monday’s elections.

The TMVP, led by Pillian, had a headstart as most of the mainstream political parties and the pro-LTTE Tamil National Alliance (TNA) stayed away from the polls.By all accounts, the polling process was largely incident free.

The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), the only mainstream party to take part in the election, complained of irregularities in some places but the Election Commission found no evidence to support the charges.

According to the Commission, the TMVP won in eight local councils — Eravur Pattu, Korale Pattu, Korale Pattu North, Manmunai South, Oluvil Pattu, Manmunai west, Maunai South East, Porathivu, and Manmunai Pattu.

The ruling United Peoples’ Freedom Alliance (UPFA), which had an alliance with the TMVP, dominated the Batticaloa Municipal Council winning 11 of the 19 membership posts. The breakdown of members for the nine local councils is TMVP – 61, UPFA – 15, SLMC – 7, Independent groups –17 and Elaval Democratic Front – 1.

A report posted on the Defence Ministry website said: “Political observers interpret the election results as a clear evidence of the Tamil peoples’ disapproval of racial ideologies promoted by LTTE terrorists. TMVP is a political party that was formed recently by Karuna Ammann and Pillian, who had once been the forefront leaders of LTTE itself.”

Separately, the Sri Lanka Foreign Ministry in a statement said the 15th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Summit and its preceding meetings would be held in Colombo from July 27 to August 3.

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