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JAFFNA. — Sri Lanka’s main Tamil party won a landslide victory yesterday in landmark elections in the battle-scarred north, raising hopes of some degree of self-rule for the ethnic minority after decades of war. The opposition Tamil National Alliance won 30 out of 38 seats in polls for a provincial council in the former war zone.
The election was called by the government amid international pressure for the majority Sinhalese to share power with Tamils four years after the end of the bloody separatist conflict.
TNA leader C. V. Wigneswaran said the results were an overwhelming vote for self-rule for Tamils. He repeated his demand for the military to withdraw from the Tamil-dominated north, saying there was no reason for its presence since the end of the war in 2009.
“That (army presence) is the primary problem the Tamils of the northern province are having today,” Wigneswaran told foreign media in the region’s capital Jaffna shortly after results were announced.” — AFP.
Online Reporter