New TNA national list MP from Muttur east

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 June 2002, 20:12 GMT]
The central working committee of the Tamil United Liberation Front Sunday unanimously decided to appoint Mr.K.Thurairatnasingham from Mutur-east as its National List parliamentarian to fill the vacancy created by the demise of late leader Mr. Murugesu Sivasithambaram. The Secretary General of the TULF Mr.R.Sampanthan will inform the decision of the party to the Speaker of the parliament next week, party sources said.

Mr.Sampanthan is the Trincomalee district parliamentarian who was elected in the 2001 December general election with more than forty thousand preferential votes. Though the TULF polled about 56 thousand votes at the last general election, it failed to secure a second parliamentary seat. Mr.Thurairatnesingham came second in the TULF list of candidates with about 28 thousand votes. More than ninety percent of votes in the areas held by the Liberation Tigers in Trincomalee district exercised their franchise with great difficulties coming to the army controlled areas where polling stations were located for the voters in LTTE held areas.

Up to 1977 the Mutur electorate in Trincomalee district was a multimember constituency which elected a Muslim and a Tamil parliamentarian. The Trincomalee district lost its second Tamil parliamentary representation in 1977 general election following the carving out of a new electorate called Seruvila for Sinhalese who have been settled by the successive governments under state aided colonization schemes in the Trincomalee district. Since 1977 till the introduction of district proportion election system in 1989 the Muttur was a single member electorate. Hence the Tamils living in Mutur area for generations in their traditional lands lost their parliamentary representation.

After twenty-five years now the Trincomalee district has secured its second Tamil parliamentary representation through the National List system.

Meanwhile, Jaffna district parliamentarian and the senior vice president Mr. V.Anandasangaree was elected new leader of the TULF to fill the vacancy created by the death of late Mr.Sivasithamparam. Batticaloa district parliamentarian Mr.Jospeh Pararajasingham was elected senior vice president. Earlier he was holding the post of joint treasurer of the party.