Colombo (AsiaNews)
- The Tamil National Alliance (TNA),
the main Tamil party of Sri Lanka has won the
provincial elections in the north
of the country: the first after
nearly 30 years of civil war. The
people went to the polls on September 21. The TNA won all five
districts of the Northern Province
- Jaffna, Kilinichchi,
Mannar, Mullaitivu, Vavuniya - winning
30 seats out of 38.
C.V. Wigneswaran (see
photo), ran in the elections as a candidate of the Tamil
party. He said he was "ready to work with the government of Mahinda Rajapaksa
to address issues," adding that "now
southern politicians must agree to
work with the Tamils."
A few hours before the opening of the ballot boxes fake Tamil newspaper were distributed, to confuse the population and push them not to vote for the TNA.
Hours before the vote men dressed in black with their faces covered by helmets
attacked the elderly by stealing their ballots.
Wigneswaran is a former
judge of the Supreme Court.
In recent months there have been several
attempts to boycott the vote. The most contested -
even the Church - dates back to early July, when a ultra-nationalist Sinhala party (Jathika Hela
Urumaya) called for the
repeal of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. Enacted
in 1987 in full civil war, it created the provincial councils and made Tamil an official language of Sri Lanka , like Sinhalese.
In fact it was the first political and social recognition of the
Tamil community. Particularly in the
north, where it is the majority,
and there were the bloodiest moments of
the conflict.