Presidential Elections: ITAK splits over supporting Sajith?

Presidential Elections: ITAK splits over supporting Sajith?

• Party members left in the dark: Senathirajah

• தமிழரசுக் கட்சியின் தீர்மானம் சாணக்கியம் நிறைந்தது- பா.உ இராதாகிருஸ்ணன்

 The Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) yesterday appeared to be in two minds regarding a reported decision to extend its support to Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa  at the upcoming Election, it is learned.

The decision taken to announce  support for candidate Sajith Premadasa at a press conference held in Vavuniya yesterday (1 September),  is not a collective decision taken by the party, the former ITAK leader Mavai Senathirajah said.

Issuing a media statement a Senathirajah expressed his disapproval of the decision, stating that it does not represent the official stance of the party. Senathirajah clarified that he was unaware of any such meeting taking place within the party to deliberate on this matter.

Given this lack of awareness and participation from key party figures, he asserted that the decision to support Premadasa cannot be recognised as an official party decision. He emphasised that the endorsement was the result of a personal decision made by a small group of individuals, rather than a collective agreement by the party's leadership.

He also pointed out that several prominent members of ITAK, including the leader of ITAK S. Sritharan, Member of Parliament Charles Nirmalanathan, and former Member of Parliament S.C. Yogeswaran, did not attend the meeting where this decision was supposedly made.

The statement from Senathirajah comes after the statement made by Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP, M. A. Sumanthiran that the party has decided to support Premadasa, during the upcoming Presidential Election.

It is reported that MP Sumanthiran said that this decision was reached at the Central Committee meeting of the party. ITAK is considered as the main political party of the Tamil National Alliance. It was also reported that the ITAK has also agreed not to support the Tamil common candidate P. Ariyanenthiran.

Several attempts made to contact ITAK leader Sritharan and MP Selvam Adeikkalanathan proved futile.

சஜித் பிரேமதாசவை ஆதரிக்கும் தமிழரசு கட்சியின் தீர்மானம் சாணக்கியம் நிறைந்தது- பா.உ இராதாகிருஸ்ணன்

இந்த நாட்டையும் சிறுபான்மை மக்களையும் சிந்தித்து எடுக்கப்பட்ட தீர்மானமாகவே தமிழரசு கட்சின் தீர்மானமானது அமைந்துள்ளது இது எமது சிறுபான்மை சமூகத்தின் ஒற்றுமையை எடுத்துக் காட்டுகின்றது அதனை நான் பாராட்டுகின்றேன் வரவேற்கின்றேன் என நுவரெலியா மாவட்ட பாராளுமன்ற உறுப்பினரும் மலையக மக்கள் முன்னணியின் தலைவருமான வேலுசாமி இராதாகிருஸ்ணன் தெரிவித்துள்ளார்.

தமிழரசு கட்சியின் தீர்மானம் தொடர்பாக அவர் இன்று (03.09.2024) ஊடகங்களுக்கு கருத்து தெரிவிக்கையிலேயே இவ்வாறு குறிப்பிட்டுள்ளார்.தொடர்ந'து கருத்து தெரிவிக்கையில்

இலங்கை நாட்டில் வாழுகின்ற சிங்களவர்கள் தமிழர்கள் முஸ்லிம்கள் கிறிஸ்தவர்கள் என அனைத்து சமூகத்தை சார்ந்தவர்களும் சஜித் பிரேமதாசவை ஆதரிப்பதற்கு முக்கிய காரணம் அவர் ஒருவர்தான் இந்த நாட்டின் அனைத்து சமூகங்களையும் இணைக்ககூடிய ஒரே ஜனாதிபதி என்பதை அனைவரும் புரிந்து கொண்டுள்ளார்கள்.

கடந்த காலங்களில் இந்த நாட்டை ஆட்சி செய்த ஆட்சியாளர்கள் அனைவரும் நாட்டு மக்களை இன ரீதியாகவும் மத ரீதியாகவும் பிரித்து ஆட்சி செய்வதையே விரும்பினார்கள்.இதனையே எம்மை அடிமைகளாக நடாத்திய ஆங்கிள ஆட்சியார்களும் செய்தார்கள்.இதனை பிரித்து ஆளுகின்ற கொள்கை எனவும் சொல்லப்பட்டது.

இதன் பிர்தாளுகின்ற கொள்கை காரணமாக நாம் அனைவரும் ஒற்றுமையாக செயற்பட முடியாத ஒரு நிலைமையை உருவாக்கினார்கள்.இந்த நாட்டில் இனவாதமும் மதவாதமும் அனைத்து விடயங்களிலும் செல்வாக்கு செலுத்தியது.சிங்கள பெரும்பான்மை சமூகத்தின் வாக்ககளில் மாத்திரமே தான் தெரிவு செய்யப்பட்டதாக பொது மேடைகளில் பேசினார்கள்.

இதன் காரணமாக சிறபான்மை சமூகத்தினர் பல இடங்களில் புறக்கணிக்கப்பட்டார்கள்.ஆனால் சஜித் பிரேமதாச அனைத்து சமூகத்தையும் இணைத்துக் கொண்டு முன்நோக்கி பயணிப்பதற்கு முயற்சி செய்கின்றார்.அதனையே இந்'த நாட்டு மக்களும் சர்வதேசமும் எதிர்பார்க்கின்றது.

தமிழரசு கட்சி கடந்த காலங்களில் அரசியல் சாணக்கித்துடன் செயற்பட்டதன் காரணமாக வடகிழக்கு மக்கள் சில நன்மைகளையும் பெற்றுக் கொண்டார்கள்.இன்று மீண்டும் தங்களுடைய அரசியல் சாணக்கியத்தின் மூலமாக செயற்பட்டு பல கேள்விகளுக்கு முற்றுப் புள்ளி வைத்திருக்கின்றார்கள்.

இந்த தீர்மானத்தின் மூலமாக சுமந்திரன் உட்பட்ட குழுவினர் ரணிலிடம் விலைபோகப்போகின்றார்கள் என்ற போலியாக உருவாக்கப்பட்ட மாயையை உடைத்தெறிந்திருக்கின்றார்கள்.எனவே இது ஒரு கல்வி கற்ற சமூகமாக சிந்தித்து எடுக்கப்பட்ட தீர்மானமாகவே மலையக மக்கள் முன்னணி பார்க்கின்றது.மிக விரைவில் வடகிழக்கின் ஏனைய சிறுபான்மை கட்சிகளும் சஜித் பிரேமதாசவிற்கு ஆதரவு வழங்க முன்வருவார்கள் என நாம் எதிர்பார்க்கின்றோம் எனவும் அவர் மேலும் குறிப்பிட்டுள்ளார்.

நுவரெலியா நிருபர்

Source: தமிழன், The Morning 02-09-24

TNA decides to back Sajith

Senathiraja strikes discordant note

by Saman Indrajith 02-09-24 The Island

TNA Spokesman and Jaffna District MP MA Sumanthiran told The Island yesterday said the Illankai Thamil Arasu Katchchi (ITAK) Central Committee had unanimously endorsed a proposal to support SJB presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa in the forthcoming presidential election.

When asked how the Central Committee had decided to do so in the absence of ITAK leader MP S. Sritharan, who is currently in London, Sumanthiran said Sritharan had sent in his proposal that the party support former MP P. Ariyanethran, who is contesting as a common candidate. “Several members spoke in favour of his proposal, but in the end, the committee unanimously resolved to support Sajith,” Sumanthiran said.

Chief Government Whip and Kandy District SJB MP Lakshman Kiriella confirmed that ITAK had conveyed to the SJB its decision to back Premadasa.

Meanwhile, former ITAK Leader Mawei Senathiraja said the party had not made any official decision to support Premadasa’s candidacy. He said he was unaware of any meeting involving party members at a private hotel in Vavuniya and was also unaware that those present had made any decisions on behalf of ITAK.

Senathiraja further noted that key ITAK figures, including party leader S. Sritharan, MP Charles Nirmalanathan, and former MPs S.C. Yogeswaran and Gananmuthu Srinesan, had not been present at the aforementioned meeting. Therefore, any decision made at that gathering could not be considered as being representative of the ITAK’s official standpoint, he claimed.

German far right set for first major election win since World War II

German far right set for first major election win since World War II

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party was the projected winner in the Thuringia state election, dealing a blow to the country’s coalition government. 

 September 1, 2024, By James Angelos and Nette Nöstlinger, Politico

Germany’s far right claimed its biggest electoral success since World War II, winning a regional vote in the east of the country Sunday, according to projections.

The triumph of the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD), in a region that was under communist control during the Cold War, is a huge blow to Germany’s political center — especially for the three parties of the ruling coalition of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, which suffered significant losses.

The AfD came in first in the state of Thuringia with close to 33 percent of the vote, a result that will prompt much soul-searching as to how the center failed to stop the electoral re-emergence of the far right despite the AfD’s growing extremism.

“For us, it’s a historic success,” said Alice Weidel, one of the AfD’s national leaders.

In the more populous state of Saxony, the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) appears to have staved off the far right by finishing first with around 32 percent of the vote, with the AfD trailing close behind.

A new populist-left party, the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), which is led by a former member of East Germany’s old Communist Party, finished third in both states.

The surge of parties on the extremes of the political spectrum will likely be seen as another blow to Scholz’s already weak coalition government.

The three coalition parties — Scholz’s center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Greens and the fiscally conservative Free Democratic Party (FDP) — took significant losses in the Sunday ballots. In Thuringia, for example, the Greens and the FDP appear to have both crashed out of the state parliament after failing to meet the five-percent threshold necessary to gain seats.

While the SPD lost less ground in the elections, its result was still dismal. The party has already lost much of its relevance in Germany’s East, and is coming off its worst performance in a nationwide election for more than a century, in June’s European election. 

“For the SPD, this is not an evening to cheer,” said Kevin Kühnert, the party’s general secretary.

Despite the AfD’s strong performance, however, the party is unlikely to take power. All the other parties that appeared to win seats in the state parliaments have previously refused to govern in coalition with the AfD. In Thuringia, however, the party has more than one-third of seats, allowing it to block certain decisions such as the appointment of judges to the state constitutional court.

The populist BSW, which merges traditional right-wing stances on immigration and other social issues with customary left-wing economic and welfare policies, celebrated the election results. Given the fractured political landscape in both states, the BSW will likely play a kingmaker role in the formation of coalitions in both state parliaments.

That coalition-building process could take weeks or months, given the complicated electoral math — and could lead to strange political bedfellows, with centrist conservatives likely to find themselves ruling with a populist-left party led by a former communist.

The result could also prove a boon to Russian President Vladimir Putin who, during the Cold War, worked as a KGB spy in Dresden in then-East Germany. Both the AfD and BSW favor closer relations with the Kremlin — and want to halt German military aid for Ukraine.

“We want the war in Ukraine to end and we don’t see that happening with more and more arms deliveries,” BSW leader Wagenknecht told public broadcaster ARD after the vote.

Support for the AfD surged even after state-level domestic intelligence agencies in Thuringia and Saxony classified the local branches of the party as extremist organizations intending to undermine German democracy.

The fact that almost one in three voters in both states supported the AfD despite official warnings speaks to widespread public distrust in mainstream parties and institutions in Germany’s East. Polls show the AfD is also leading in the eastern state of Brandenburg, where voters go to the polls Sept. 22.

One issue troubling voters was migration, according to pre-election surveys, with respondents in Thuringia and Saxony citing it as among their top three concerns along with crime and “social protection.” According to one survey for German public television, 81-percent of voters agreed with the statement: “We need a fundamentally different asylum and refugee policy so that fewer people come to us.”

The Sunday voting followed a deadly knife attack several days earlier in the western German city of Solingen, which reanimated a charged national debate on immigration and crime. The suspect, a Syrian man suspected of being a member of the Islamic State, is accused of killing three people and injuring several more.

Scholz called the attack “terrorism,” while ministers in his government announced a tougher migration measures ahead of the Sunday elections, vowing to deport migrants who commit violent crimes and to cut benefits for asylum seekers in some cases.

The AfD’s gains were especially massive among young voters in both states, according to initial survey data. In Thuringia the party finished first with 37 percent support among 18- to 24-year-olds, an increase of almost 20 percentage points compared to its result in the previous state election in 2019. In Saxony, meanwhile, the AfD won 31 percent of voters in that age group, an increase of 14 percentage points compared to 2019.

The outcome delighted Björn Höcke, the leader of the AfD in Thuringia who is considered one of the most extreme politicians in the party, having twice been convicted by a German court of intentionally using Nazi rhetoric.

“I am more than happy,” Höcke said of the result on public television. The outcome, he added, “fills me with great pride and satisfaction.⍐”