All Ceylon Tamil Congress Decides to Boycott The Presidential Election

The All Ceylon Tamil Congress has resolved to call upon the Tamils of the North and East to boycott the forthcoming Presidential Election.

 The resolution to the effect was passed at a special meeting of the General Council of the Party held yesterday at the Party Office in Jaffna.

The meeting was presided over by A Vinayagamoorthy, the President of the Party and a former member of parliament. The General Secretary of the Party Gajendrakumar Ponnampalam, also a TNA Parliamentarian, moved the resolution for the boycott, that was passed with overwhelming support. According to reliable sources, views aired at the meeting expressed expectation that the TNA too will take the same stance on the presidential election, when the parliamentary group meets on the 4th of next month. It is widely expected that three MPs from the Jaffna district, who are now in Jaffna engaged in gauging the mood of the people, would back the ACTC’s decision for a boycott. Those MPs who are presently in Jaffna are Selvarajah Kajendran, Mrs. Pathmini Sithamparanathan and Solomon Cyril. All these three MPs were nominated to contest in the parliamentary election held in 2004, directly by the LTTE high command.  In the meantime, it is learnt that S. Mavai Senathiraja, the Deputy Parliamentary Leader of the TNA was not present at the recent discussion the TNA leaders R. Sampanthan and Susil Premachanthran had with Ranil Wickremasinghe and Sarath Fonseka. It is rumoured that Mavai Senathirajah was not happy with the TNA leadership negotiating with the opposition candidate Sarath Fonseka without the prior authority of the TNA Parliamentary group. It is believed that as he was hesitant in participating in the talks, he quietly left for Tamil Nadu.