03-09-2004, 06:02 PM
Rebel rift puts Sri Lanka candidates in quandary
By Lindsay Beck
COLOMBO (Reuters) - Campaign plans for candidates in Sri Lanka's east were going ahead on Tuesday despite a split in Tamil Tiger ranks that threatens the island's peace process and complicates what already promised to be a violent election.
Karuna, a powerful eastern commander, broke ranks with the Tigers last week, throwing a wrench into peace efforts already in turmoil over differences between President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe that led to the snap poll.
"I don't think there will be any changes," Varathan, an aide to Karuna, told Reuters about campaigning in the east.
But election monitors said campaigning had come to a standstill in Batticaloa, the stronghold of Karuna, the military name that V. Muralitharan more commonly goes by.
"We haven't had an official report from our monitors in the area, but it looks like no one is doing any campaigning there. Some candidates have taken part in pro-Karuna demonstrations," said Sunanda Deshapriya, one of the heads of the non-partisan Centre for Monitoring Election Violence.
The Tigers -- who have been observing a truce with the government since February 2002 after two decades of war -- have publicly endorsed the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), a minority Tamil party which accepts the Tigers as the "sole representative of the Tamil people".
But since Karuna split from the rebels in an unprecedented rift for an organisation known for tight discipline, TNA candidates could be facing new risks if they are seen to be allied with the Tigers' northern leadership.
Batticaloa has already witnessed the worst election violence since campaigning for the April 2 poll got under way, with a candidate for Wickremesinghe's party and an activist for a Tamil party opposed to the Tigers both shot dead last week.
Some analysts say Karuna's anger over the candidate list for the TNA -- which was vetted by the Tigers -- was one of the reasons behind his decision to break away.
He and the Tigers were no closer on Tuesday to resolving their split.
The TNA won 15 seats in the 225-seat parliament in the last general election in 2001, and three of the five seats in the Batticaloa district.
The party is expected to increase its seats to more than 20 in the elections, and could constitute a key swing block if predictions that neither Kumaratunga's nor Wickremesinghe's parties will win enough seats to form a government come true.
By Lindsay Beck
COLOMBO (Reuters) - Campaign plans for candidates in Sri Lanka's east were going ahead on Tuesday despite a split in Tamil Tiger ranks that threatens the island's peace process and complicates what already promised to be a violent election.
Karuna, a powerful eastern commander, broke ranks with the Tigers last week, throwing a wrench into peace efforts already in turmoil over differences between President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe that led to the snap poll.
"I don't think there will be any changes," Varathan, an aide to Karuna, told Reuters about campaigning in the east.
But election monitors said campaigning had come to a standstill in Batticaloa, the stronghold of Karuna, the military name that V. Muralitharan more commonly goes by.
"We haven't had an official report from our monitors in the area, but it looks like no one is doing any campaigning there. Some candidates have taken part in pro-Karuna demonstrations," said Sunanda Deshapriya, one of the heads of the non-partisan Centre for Monitoring Election Violence.
The Tigers -- who have been observing a truce with the government since February 2002 after two decades of war -- have publicly endorsed the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), a minority Tamil party which accepts the Tigers as the "sole representative of the Tamil people".
But since Karuna split from the rebels in an unprecedented rift for an organisation known for tight discipline, TNA candidates could be facing new risks if they are seen to be allied with the Tigers' northern leadership.
Batticaloa has already witnessed the worst election violence since campaigning for the April 2 poll got under way, with a candidate for Wickremesinghe's party and an activist for a Tamil party opposed to the Tigers both shot dead last week.
Some analysts say Karuna's anger over the candidate list for the TNA -- which was vetted by the Tigers -- was one of the reasons behind his decision to break away.
He and the Tigers were no closer on Tuesday to resolving their split.
The TNA won 15 seats in the 225-seat parliament in the last general election in 2001, and three of the five seats in the Batticaloa district.
The party is expected to increase its seats to more than 20 in the elections, and could constitute a key swing block if predictions that neither Kumaratunga's nor Wickremesinghe's parties will win enough seats to form a government come true.
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