Eezham Tamils in Norway launch move for democratically elected council

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 September 2009, 02:41 GMT]
Eezham Tamils in Norway have launched an election process on Monday to form Norwegian Council of Eelam Tamils (NCET), a move widely perceived as a pioneering major step in the global politics of Eezham Tamils. An independent election committee formed for this purpose has called for the nomination of candidates and has announced that the elections will be held on November 15th. The Norwegian Tamil move follows an overwhelming mandate by them in May this year for independence and sovereignty of Tamil Eelam, based on political fundamental of the Vaddukkoaddai Resolution (VR) of 1976.

Following the mandate, Eezham Tamils in Norway have been exploring the possibility of forming a democratically elected council and three independent committees, an initiating committee, constitution committee and an election committee have been working towards it during the past few months.

The independent committee that conducted the referendum on VR in May is now entrusted with the task of conducting elections for the Council, according to www.tamilvalg.com, the official website of the election committee.

The draft constitution, based on which the elections will be conducted and the council will be formed, could be found on the website www.ncet.no, the election committee announced.

Meanwhile, the Tamil Coordinating Committee in Norway in a separate press release on Sunday has welcomed the independently initiated move and has pledged support for it.

According to the draft constitution, the council will have the mandate of Eezham Tamils in Norway to deal on behalf of them in the diaspora affairs of Eezham Tamils in Norway, in the coordination of affairs with Eezham Tamils of other countries as well as internationally addressing common issues of Eezham Tamils, and in working for independence, sovereignty and development of Eezham Tamils in their homeland.

The council is proposed to have two houses, House of Eelam Tamils in Norway and House of Eelam Institutions in Norway: the first is a body of 15 members, 10 elected regionally and 5 elected nationally through universal suffrage and the second house will have 5 members elected by Norwegian Tamil institutions.

The draft constitution has to be ratified by the first council, members of the constitution committee said.

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