The main Parliamentary Opposition Party, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), claimed that a future Government under it will address the issues of ethnic minorities appropriately, and according to the Constitution, and that therefore, it is the only Party in which the ethnic minorities can place their confidence in.

In the wake of media reports being circulated about a common Tamil Presidential Candidate, the National Organiser of the Party and Opposition Parliamentarian Tissa Attanayake told The Daily Morning yesterday (8) that the preliminary discussions between the ethnic minority parties are still underway, but that no consensus has yet been reached regarding its future course of action. Attanayake stated that many parties, including the international community, are not happy with Sri Lanka’s post-civil war reconciliation related progress, and that therefore, a future SJB Government would focus more on how to strengthen the reconciliation programme. He also noted that the support of both the majority and minority groups is needed to accomplish the objectives of the reconciliation mechanism, and that the SJB is ready to lead the programme.

Meanwhile, the main Tamil political Party, the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK), the latter which is the main constituent Party of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), said last week that it is open to holding discussions with every party regarding the Presidential Election despite the political differences that they have. Speaking to the media, a senior ITAK MP noted that the ITAK’s discussion table is open to all individuals who have already announced their candidature for the Election.

However, the General Secretary of the Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF), a major breakaway faction of the TNA, and which is the major constituent Party of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress, MP Selvarajah Kajendren said that his Party is boycotting the upcoming Presidential Election demanding a solid constitutional solution to the issues facing the Tamil community in the country.