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Tigers savage Presidential poll, says London Times
In an editorial titled “Savaged by Tigers”, the prestigious The Times of London says that “those who have accused the separatist Tamil Tigers of bad faith in peace negotiations can draw powerful evidence from Sri Lanka’s presidential election.”

Referring to the “brutally enforced boycott” of the elections in the predominantly Tamil North and East, The Times says thousands of votes likely to have been cast for Ranil Wickremesinghe were lost to him and therefore the election. “It is clear that the Tigers engineered Mr Wickremesinghe’s defeat because his success in appealing to the majority of war weary Tamils over the heads of the terrorists was proving effective. Breakaway factions from Mr. Prabhakaran’s group duly condemned the Tiger’s tactics as well as their refusal to compromise in the Norwegian-brokered peace talks.”

“The Tigers’ hard core retaliated with assassinations and suppression of all dissent. But a return to power of Mr. Wickremesinghe, who has a shrewd grasp of negotiating tactics, would have put huge pressure on the Tigers to continue the conversation, contemplate a bargain and widen the split with the hardline leadership.”
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