TNA to stake claim to form EP Council

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) which secured the second highest number of seats at the Eastern Provincial Council yesterday said it would stake a claim to form the council with the support of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and the United National Party (UNP).

Abuse of state resources, threats, intimidation and malicious propaganda distorted the outcome

The TNA won 11 seats at the election, the UNP four and the SLMC four. Commenting on the outcome, TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran told the Daily Mirror that since all these parties which were opposed to the UPFA which had clinched the absolute majority, it was entitled to run the council.

"The United People’s Freedom Party (UPFA) got 14 seats. In addition, UPFA ally National Freedom Front won a single seat by contesting on its own. Altogether, they have 15 members elected but the parties that are opposed to the UPFA exceeds that. Therefore, we stake a claim for the formation of the council," he said. Mr. Sumanthiran said the TNA initiated a dialogue with these parties.

'We will write to the Governor staking a claim to form the council," he said.

Also, the TNA charged that the abuse of state resources, threats and intimidation and malicious propaganda distorted the outcome of the election this year.

"The TNA could have got three more seats from each district in the east, had there been no malpractice. Then, we could have emerged as the clear winner. We cannot call it a free and fair election. There was a campaign against us. Even bogus leaflets bearing the forged signature of our leader R. Sampanthan were distributed to mislead voters. This clearly had an impact on the final results," he said.