CWC to support Wickremasinghe for President

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 October 2005, 12:40 GMT]
The decision of the Ceylon Workers Congress led by Arumugam Thondaman to support the Presidential candidate of the UNP, Ranil Wickremasinghe, is almost conclusive, informed sources said.

The CWC has a vote bank of 900,000 voters in the upcountry regions of Nuwera eliya, Kandy, Matale, ratnapura and Badulla. The CWC’s vote bank is a vital deciding factor in any polls conducted islandwide.

The Public announcement of the CWC decision to support Ranil Wickremasinghe may be made any moment, the sources added.

During the past several weeks, the UNP and the SLFP were making overt attempts to woo the CWC. Mr Arumugam Thondaman had presented both the candidates with a list of demands and during the bargain Mahinda Rajapakse appears to have declined to accept several demands from the list.

This, the sources said, had tilted the CWC support in favour of Ranil Wickremasinghe, the UNP candidate.