Colombo: A hardline Tamil nationalist party has launched a campaign to boycott the Sept 21 presidential election, saying that no major candidate has pledged for the federal set-up for political autonomy for Tamils in the north and east of the country, local election monitoring groups said.
Moreover, Selvaraja Kajendran, Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) general secretary, has lodged a complaint against police for obstructing their leaflets distribution campaign in the eastern region of Thirukkovil. TNPF has also urged action by the Election Commission and Human Rights Commission against police for obstructing them.
“We will stop this boycott campaign if anyone offers a federal solution to Tamils,” Kajendran was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, Tamil votes in next month’s election have been sent into turmoil with Tamil groups pulling in different directions. The main Tamil party, Tamil National Alliance, is yet to make its position official on supporting front runners from the majority Sinhalese community. A section has also expressed support for a common Tamil candidate fielded against the party’s wishes.
The votes of 2.2 million people from Tamil regions will be crucial for any front runner to be declared the winner.
