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Tamils to decide Sri Lanka election result
Sri Lanka's Tamil minority is expected to determine the outcome of Tuesday's fiercely contested election, less than a year after it was brutally crushed by the country's army.
By Dean Nelson in Colombo
Published: 7:00PM GMT 25 Jan 2010
Protesters wear masks of slain Tamil Tigers leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran during a rally against Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa in the southern Indian city of Chennai Photo: REUTERS
President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his former Army chief General Sarath Fonseka are believed to be "neck and neck" as the country's voters go to the polls.
With the majority Sinhalese Buddhist vote split evenly between them, Sri Lanka's three million Tamils could hold the balance of power.
It is a bitter irony after a year in which more than 300,000 Tamils were driven from their homes in the North by ruthless army shelling and then forcibly held in squalid detention camps.
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA), once regarded as the "political wing" of the Tamil Tigers (LTTE), has pledged its support to General Fonseka after striking a gentlemen's agreement for greater regional autonomy if he wins. The general, who stood down as army chief in November last year, has promised to charge or free all suspected LTTE detainees within a month and allow the remaining 100,000 Tamils detained in camps to return to their homes.
TNA leader Rajavarothiam Sampanthan told The Daily Telegraph that while many expected Tamils to recoil from voting for the general whose troops drove so many relatives from their homes, they were driven by enthusiasm to oust President Rajapaksa.
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ඔන්න බලාගනිල්ලා සිංහලයො බෙදුම්වාදය පරදවන්න එකතු නොවුනොත් වෙන දේ...
Tamils to decide Sri Lanka election result
Sri Lanka's Tamil minority is expected to determine the outcome of Tuesday's fiercely contested election, less than a year after it was brutally crushed by the country's army.
By Dean Nelson in Colombo
Published: 7:00PM GMT 25 Jan 2010
Protesters wear masks of slain Tamil Tigers leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran during a rally against Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa in the southern Indian city of Chennai Photo: REUTERS
President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his former Army chief General Sarath Fonseka are believed to be "neck and neck" as the country's voters go to the polls.
With the majority Sinhalese Buddhist vote split evenly between them, Sri Lanka's three million Tamils could hold the balance of power.
It is a bitter irony after a year in which more than 300,000 Tamils were driven from their homes in the North by ruthless army shelling and then forcibly held in squalid detention camps.
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA), once regarded as the "political wing" of the Tamil Tigers (LTTE), has pledged its support to General Fonseka after striking a gentlemen's agreement for greater regional autonomy if he wins. The general, who stood down as army chief in November last year, has promised to charge or free all suspected LTTE detainees within a month and allow the remaining 100,000 Tamils detained in camps to return to their homes.
TNA leader Rajavarothiam Sampanthan told The Daily Telegraph that while many expected Tamils to recoil from voting for the general whose troops drove so many relatives from their homes, they were driven by enthusiasm to oust President Rajapaksa.
.
.
.
.
ඔන්න බලාගනිල්ලා සිංහලයො බෙදුම්වාදය පරදවන්න එකතු නොවුනොත් වෙන දේ...
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