2ND LEAD (Adds TNA statement)

Sampanthan: Majority of TNA MPs back Fonseka

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 January 2010, 15:27 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentary group leader and Trincomalee district MP Rajavarothayam Sampanthan on Wednesday said majority of 18 members of the alliance who were present at lengthy deliberations were of the view that the "only meaningful way" to thwart the desire of the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to seek a mandate to hold office for a further term would be urging the Tamils to vote for the joint opposition candidate General (retd.) Sarath Fonseka. The announcement by Mr. Sampanthan comes amid strong opposition from the Tamil diaspora against supporting either General Sarath Fonseka or Mahinda Rajapaksa as Tamils believe they are both implicated in war crimes and crimes against humanity.

18 members of the alliance who were present at a meeting held on Tuesday evening were of the unanimous view that they were opposed to President Mahinda Rajapaksa securing a fresh term.

Global Tamil Forum, an umbrella forum of diaspora Tamil organisations, in an internal message sent to TNA parliamentarians a few days ago, said that the Tamils stood morally and ethically unable to lend support to neither of the two main candidates who were largely responsible for the deaths of Tamils' kith and kin and destruction of the Tamil homeland in the island of Sri Lanka.

"GTF stands in support of fundamental principles of the 1976 Vadukkoddai Resolution which was supported and overwhelmingly voted through a democratic election in 1977 by the Tamils of the island nation. Whilst we appreciate that any candidate cannot espouse the resolution in full in words due to the unreasonable restrictions levied by the sixth amendment of the Sri Lankan constitution, we will stand in solidarity with a candidate who will espouse the spirit of the resolution within the constraints," the GTF had told the TNA.

Full text of the statement by the TNA follows: