Traditional parties suffered major setbacks as the National People’s Power (NPP) swept district after district at Thursday’s poll. The party also mustered majorities in the North and the East.
Batticaloa was the only district of the 22 electoral districts that the NPP lost as the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) received 96,751 votes and clinched three of the five seats.
ITAK won eight seats, establishing itself as the main Tamil-representation party in Parliament.
ITAK’s candidate Shanakiyan Rasamanickam received 65,468 preferential votes, the highest by any candidate in the history of Batticaloa beating the previous highest of 57,000.
Rasamanikam said when Parliament convenes on Thursday, November 21 the Government needs to clarify its position on certain issues and added that there’s some confusion between what the members of the NPP and the JVP’s core group say.
“This is not criticism, it’s just that they are a new Government. Since they are a new Government, they also need to be given some time to formulate Government policy. Because most MPs who have been elected are all new faces and the President himself is only two months into his role,” he said.
ITAK’s foremost priority is to know the Government’s stand on policies such as economic recovery, the national question and accountability and that the latter two are very important for the party, he said.
“Economic recovery is also an important aspect. People in the South are keen to know about corruption and economic recovery. We need a long-term economic recovery and checking corruption, but we also need to know what the decision is on the national question and how they will set about it. So it’s important that they spell it out.”
Regarding the NPP’s supermajority, Rasamanickam said that ITAK will support any Government as long as the initiatives are good.
“We haven’t opposed simply because we are in the Opposition. We will support any good proposals presented by the Government. There is no reason to oppose anything as long as the intentions are genuine and positive for the entire country, which will obviously mean it’s positive for our people. We will look at issues or whatever comes up and then decide on our support,” he added.
