CWC President Mutu Sivalingam speaking while campaigning in Nuwara Eliya yesterday afternoon said there was no necessity to announce their support to the President through media conferences as they were already campaigning for him in the hills.

The Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP), the People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) and the Eelam People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (EPRLF) (Padmanabha Wing) said they would make their public announcements soon.

PDP Leader and Social Welfare Minister Douglas Devananda said they have without any hesitation decided to back the incumbent President and they would make a formal announcement tomorrow.

Leader of the PLOTE Dharmalingam Sithadthan said individually they had already made up their minds on supporting President Rajapaksa and they would formally meet on the matter soon and announce it to the public.

He said their primary concern was the resettlement of IDPs and that process was going ahead. “No one can expect things to be perfect, but whatever the government is doing to resettle those people is being done with responsibility,” he said.
Secondly, Sithadthan said Mahinda Rajapaksa was a known element with much political experience and they were quite confident in backing a winning horse.
EPRLF (Padmanabha Wing) General Secretary T. Sritheran said they too would soon announce their support to the President.
Sritheran said what mattered to them most was the continuation of the rich democratic traditions of the country, the expeditious resettlement of IDPs, going forward with the 13th Amendment plus the APRC process and the eradication of violent culture that plagued the country for more than two decades.
“We will align with the progressive left forces in the South in supporting Mahinda Rajapaksa’s re-election,” he declared.
The one time ardent supporters of the LTTE, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which has 22 Parliamentarians from four parties, however, appears to be in no hurry to take a decision on their stand at the election.
Suresh Premachandran, a member of the TNA, who heads the other wing of the EPRLF and a strong critic of the government, when asked whether he was supporting Sarath Fonseka for President said, just because he was critical of the government that did not make him automatically support Fonseka.
Premachandran added there was no necessity to rush to a decision as there was plenty of time to take a decision and they would take a decision as an alliance at the appropriate time.
Asked whether they would promote a common Tamil candidate, he said that too should not be ruled out.
TNA Jaffna District MP Pathmini Sithamparanathan said before December 8 all their MPs would come to Colombo for the emergency debate and they might take a decision on their stand on the Presidential election then.
Other Tamil sources said TNA was divided into three groups on the matter. One group opposes President Rajapaksa; another group supports the President while a majority who are in the third group simply wants to keep quiet on the matter.
The Up-Country People’s Front led by Minister of Community Development and Social Inequity Eradication P. Chandrasekeran could not be contacted The Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP), the People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) and the Eelam People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (EPRLF) (Padmanabha Wing) said they would make their public announcements soon.
EPDP Leader and Social Welfare Minister Douglas Devananda said they have without any hesitation decided to back the incumbent President and they would make a formal announcement tomorrow.
Leader of the PLOTE Dharmalingam Sithadthan said individually they had already made up their minds on supporting President Rajapaksa and they would formally meet on the matter soon and announce it to the public.
He said their primary concern was the resettlement of IDPs and that process was going ahead. “No one can expect things to be perfect, but whatever the government is doing to resettle those people is being done with responsibility,” he said.
Secondly, Sithadthan said Mahinda Rajapaksa was a known element with much political experience and they were quite confident in backing a winning horse.
EPRLF (Padmanabha Wing) General Secretary T. Sritheran said they too would soon announce their support to the President. Sritheran said what mattered to them most was the continuation of the rich democratic traditions of the country, the expeditious resettlement of IDPs, going forward with the 13th Amendment plus the APRC process and the eradication of violent culture that plagued the country for more than two decades.
“We will align with the progressive left forces in the South in supporting Mahinda Rajapaksa’s re-election,” he declared.
The one time ardent supporters of the LTTE, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which has 22 Parliamentarians from four parties, however, appears to be in no hurry to take a decision on their stand at the election.
Suresh Premachandran, a member of the TNA, who heads the other wing of the EPRLF and a strong critic of the government, when asked whether he was supporting Sarath Fonseka for President said, just because he was critical of the government that did not make him automatically support Fonseka.
Premachandran added there was no necessity to rush to a decision as there was plenty of time to take a decision and they would take a decision as an alliance at the appropriate time.
Asked whether they would promote a common Tamil candidate, he said that too should not be ruled out.
TNA Jaffna District MP Pathmini Sithamparanathan said before December 8 all their MPs would come to Colombo for the emergency debate and they might take a decision on their stand on the Presidential election then.
Other Tamil sources said TNA was divided into three groups on the matter. One group opposes President Rajapaksa; another group supports the President while a majority who are in the third group simply wants to keep quiet on the matter.
The Up-Country People’s Front led by Minister of Community Development and Social Inequity Eradication P. Chandrasekeran could not be contacted.