Ex-LTTE cadres to run as independent group in Polls

Former cadres of LTTE have decided to contest the Sri Lankan parliament elections as an independent group after the main Tamil party TNA refused to field them in the August 17 polls. "They will contest as independents in the north and east provinces," said Nadesapillai Vithyatharan, the former editor of a Tamil newspaper. "We will field lists from the Jaffna and Wanni districts," Vithyatharan added. The TNA early this week said they were unable to consider the candidature of the rehabilitated cadres of the LTTE. They will be considered for future elections, TNA leader R Sampanthan has said. They are among the 11,000 LTTE cadres rehabilitated and released by the government since the end of the armed conflict in May 2009. They have been undergoing vocational training under a rehabilitation programme. The TNA said they were finalising their own nomination lists to contest the election. The nominations close on July 13. The August 17 election will elect a parliament for five years. Meanwhile, in the south of the country, President Maithripala Sirisena's UPFA said they have closed ranks ahead of the nominations with peace brokered between the Sirisena and the Rajapaksa factions. Sirisena succumbed to pressure from the Rajapaksa group to grant candidature to former President Mahinda Rajapaksa in the parliamentary polls. The party is currently in the process of finalising nominations to run all 22 electoral districts in the country, a party official said. (Outlook India)